


Sins of the Father

by DigitalMess90



Series: Rebels. [1]
Category: Hazbin Hotel (Web Series)
Genre: Alastor is in Hell for a Reason (Hazbin Hotel), Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Alternate Universe, Alternative Charlastor, Awkward Romance, Charlie has a mean streak, F/M, Kidnapping, Kleptocracy, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Possibly Unrequited Love, Prison, Prison Sex, Psychological Torture, Slow Burn, Swearing, Tags Are Hard
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-26
Updated: 2020-06-06
Packaged: 2021-03-02 20:15:46
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 52,416
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24392665
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DigitalMess90/pseuds/DigitalMess90
Summary: Alternative universe, Charlie is running a different facility for wayward souls as her father Lucifer maintains his rule from on high, Charlie's mind begins to wander and she starts little experiments trying to find a way for redemption. That is, until someone new arrives.This is my first attempt at a Charlastor fic and as is my usual way, it's going to get pretty god-damn dark.
Relationships: Alastor/Charlie Magne, Husk & Niffty (Hazbin Hotel)
Series: Rebels. [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1770811
Comments: 206
Kudos: 171





	1. Welcome to the Happy Hotel

Everything was dark, and the nausea hit like a wave. Opening eyes was met with only darkness and breath was caught on the sack that had been placed over his head. There was a groan and it almost felt far away, the cocktail of drugs floating in his system made him feel almost disconnected from his body. Angel tried to move but found that all six of his arms had been bolted to what was now coming into sharper and sharper relief, a metal chair. 

“... The fuck?” even his voice was slurred, clearly this wasn’t the booze or even his coke that caused this. What was the last thing he remembered? He was partying at Mimzy’s, drinking, laughing flirting. His head hurt as he tried to clear through the swampy cloud that was his recollections. Drinking, drinking… drinking and then nothing just blackness, he couldn’t remember what happened. He didn’t remember starting a fight, he didn’t remember getting a client. All he could remember was having fun… and then this. He tried to move again, even his legs were bolted to the chair and they were so tight it was starting to hurt now that he was awake. 

This couldn’t be Val, could it? If Val was ever displeased he let Angel know to his face, usually by giving him a black eye, but still. Valentino was direct. Angel didn’t know who kidnapped him, perhaps a weirdo fan? The smell of disinfectant tinged with metal was heavy in the air, Angel was sure he had never been here before but something was triggering and the silence and the sound of his own breathing had become more and more panicked. He didn’t know why he was so worried, he had got out of plenty of rough spots before, turf wars and the like, why was this getting to him so?

He heard a door open and a single set of light footsteps enter.

“Bet you think this is fuckin’ funny don’cha?” He could still put on a tough front, even if he was starting to worry more and more. There was a slight sigh as a female voice he had never heard before called out.

“You always act so tough, don’t you Angel Dust? How many times do we have to go through the same routine?” 

“Who the fuck are you? I don’t know you… take this fuckin’ bag off my face!” The footsteps were getting closer and a switch was flicked before a blinding light had turned on just in front of him and causing him to wince even through the sack, it came off and Angel could barely see, he turned his head left and right but the best he could do was the outline of a woman moving around the room. The rest was either blinding white or utter black. The woman continued to speak softly as she was clearly getting something ready, the noise of tearing Velcro and cables being plugged into something sounded out. 

“No you don’t know me, but I know all about you Angel Dust… Valentino’s little pet, pornstar… whore, it has plenty of names.” Angel let out a dry nervous laugh.

“Listen, if you’re a fan there are better ways to meet me, buyin’ me a drink would have been a good start, rather than this kinky shit.” There was a pause.

“Oh, but I did buy you a drink, don’t you remember? That’s right memory can be a funny thing, it’s just chemicals and electrical impulses after all… and if we add our own chemicals into the mix… and our own electrical pulses, who knows what we might be able to change.” Her tone had become far darker and when something metallic and cold was being tied off and around Angel’s head and chest he had begun to nervously sweat, and he still couldn’t see her face. Fuck this was probably bad, some crazed fans plaything going through a sick fantasy. Well, at least he couldn’t die, he’d just keep coming back. No one died in hell… well apart from the exterminations. No one liked that feeling but if he had to, he’d find a way to get out eventually even if he had to break his own wrists to get out of these restraints.

“Listen, Val’s going to wonder where I am, you don’t want to be messin’ around with an Overlord right?” There was a quiet laugh.

“I’m not worried about him… are you ready to begin?” Angel wasn’t sure what the hell was going on, this person had clearly lost it, no one pissed off the Overlords, there was a reason they were in charge of whole sections of the city, they had power and more importantly didn’t take shit from anyone, they liked to make examples of people. 

Something had begun to hum in the room, a low rumbling noise that seemed to be winding up, like an industrial electric motor, steps sounded out again and Angel could feel the woman close behind his head, he twisted and turned trying to look behind himself but he still couldn’t see her, when she spoke it was barely above a whisper and it was so cold. 

“Welcome to the Happy Hotel…” It pierced the veil and a strange assortment of memories came jumbling back into existence, all of them starting with that strange phrase. Like he was watching his life through someone else’s eyes. Angel crying and screaming for the person to stop. Always the same room, always the same voice, never seeing them, never understanding why. His eyes grew wide in fear and then he heard the click and cried out as electricity arched through his entire body causing his muscles to spasm and lock up, pressing hard against his restraints it felt like they were almost cutting through flesh. It was an eternity of screaming as he lashed against the torrent flooding through his body and then it was suddenly cut off and the silence in the room was broken only by his ragged breathing.

“I will not sin, repeat it.” Angel stared around wild eyed.

“W-What?” another click and he screamed again as the intensity seemed to increase and the smell of burning flesh had started to fill the room. It stopped again and Angel sobbed, his whole body was trembling like a leaf caught in a mighty storm. The female voice spoke again.

“I will not sin.” Angel still hadn’t learnt.

“B-But we’re in hell… that’s who we are.” that struck a nerve clearly, and the answer was spoken through gritted teeth as the button was pressed again and Angel’s torture resumed.

“I am trying to make you better, trying to make you see… can’t you just see? I will not sin, Say IT!” Angel had shut his eyes as his body jolted in place and when it finally stopped he gasped out, it was horrible, this was horrible and yet something was horrifyingly familiar. Had this happened before?

“I-I, w-will n-not sin…” There was a pause then a truly dark voice spoke out in absolute disgust.

“LIAR.” Angel’s eyes grew frantic as the click sounded out and he screamed frantically, the female voice shouting at him over his thrashing and wailing.

“How many times have you said those words to me! How many times have you lied!” Angel had no idea, he could barely remember anything about who this person even was. The tirade continued,

“No matter much it hurts you Angel, I AM GOING TO HELP YOU. I Won’t give up…” There was a blinding buzzing sounding around inside his skull as his organs cooked inside his chest, he could barely see anything his vision had become hazy a horrible noise sounded out and he felt something crack in his arms but the pain never registered, his entire nervous system had been fried. Something popped and everything went black, everything stopped convulsing and Angel could faintly recognize that he was being stabbed with a needle. His mind was swimming around in his head and he felt his grip on reality slipping away, the voice called out one final time before darkness enveloped him.

“I hope you learnt something, see you next time.” 

When Angel moved again he groaned, placing several hands to his head he blinked awake and sat up on his bed, well at least it was his bed this time and not a random hotel room.

“Fuuuuuuuuck, how much did I drink?” Staggering to his feet, he wobbled unceremoniously around, his whole body ached, how hard did he party last night? He couldn’t remember a single thing, despite his pains he managed a grin, blackout drunk normally meant a good time. He reached for his phone and groaned, it was afternoon already and he was due in the studios soon, looks like he wouldn't be relaxing any time soon, still he was sure he could nab something to help him relax. Valentino liked to make sure his little toys had big smiles when the cameras started rolling. He would just need to beg for a little advance on his pay, it wasn’t the first time and it certainly wouldn’t be the last, but to hell with it. This was the afterlife and Angel was going to party as much as he could.

***

When did it start? When did Charlie change? Like father like daughter. She couldn’t put her finger on it, nor did she dwell on it. Ten, twenty years… half a century ago? It didn’t matter, that sweet young princess died a long-drawn-out death. She died at the time she had begun to listen to her father. Classic of course, emotionally distant father figure and Charlie grew up with daddy issues, well at least that would explain her first few train wrecks of relationships. Then when she had become a young woman, Lucifer had started paying attention to her, wanting to see her. Charlie giddy with excitement had gone head over heels trying to get his approval and wanted nothing more than to make her father proud.

Well she had it now, but what had it cost her? Her soul, well if she had one anyway. Lucifer would say.

“I have a problem.” Charlie’s response was.

“I have an answer.” The problem was of course, problem people. There was supposed to be a natural order of things in hell. First and foremost Lucifer, sitting at the top lord and master of all, underneath him was the caste of Overlords and his other family, Charlie and her mother could consider themselves at this level. Then it was the rich and powerful, business men and women of various delights. Then underneath them everyone else. It gave a small amount of order to the otherwise chaotic existence in hell, it allowed for cities to be built. As long as everyone knew their place, some did not and therein lay the problem. 

This was hell, eternal torment awaited those to enter its fiery pits. You couldn’t die here, even if your body was blasted apart, devoured, melted or otherwise destroyed. Sure you felt the agony of it but you would always reform. So what then would happen to those souls, who had lost their minds or simply didn’t care about the natural order… they were disruptive for one, annoyances as another. A mind was far more fragile than their new hell forged bodies, and the exterminations only happened once a year, in the meantime something had to be done to keep the streets clean of these raving lunatics or other ‘problem’ individuals that Lucifer deemed necessary to deal with, after all daddy knew best and Charlie happily complied.

That’s where Charlie came in, ever the faithful daughter she built an asylum for these deranged individuals, couldn’t kill the inmates of course but certainly could confine them in their madness, then when the year ticked around and it was time to begin, extermination started and the asylum was purged first, it was no surprise. It was designed. Charlie had built the structure directly under the main gateway that would open up as the grey angels would descend and helpfully getting rid of the undesirables. 

Charlie had come to believe it to be honest work that was helping her home, she was keeping these people from hurting others and when it came to be their time, each of their lives that were snuffed out meant that another in hell would be sparred. Recently however Charlie had started branching out, she never would have done if her inmates had been enough, but every cleanse the angels would spread out into the city and claim others. It crossed her mind, if these souls that she was warden of were unchangeable, does that mean there would be some that could change, that could be redeemed? Now she had a pet side project, one that her father either didn’t know about or didn’t ask. Angel Dust had become a perfect little candidate, his hedonistic lifestyle made for perfect cover if he disappeared for a day or two. Charlie believed that change had to come organically, or at least the mind had to be tricked into thinking it was. She would drug him up to the eyeballs so he wouldn’t remember a thing and then try and see if anything would stick in his subconscious it was frustrating, but Charlie didn’t have much else to do and it seemed like a noble enough work. 

She sighed as she finished up writing her notes from their last session together when a knock on her door interrupted her, she closed her journal before putting in the drawer of her desk and locking it with a key she kept in her pocket, the only key. 

“Come in.” the door handle turned and a smartly dressed grey skinned woman with long silver hair that covered half her face entered. Charlie smiled.

“Vaggie, what can I do for you?” the women gave a sharp nod as a greeting, Vaggie was her second in command here and Charlie appreciated her no nonsense attitude regarding misbehaviour in her facility, she ran things when Charlie wasn’t around with an iron fist and Charlie thought highly of her for it. She had at one point wondered if perhaps they could be friends outside of work, but shook her mind clear from such silly frivolities. Keep work separate from pleasure, that was the thought anyway. It was just a shame Charlie didn’t really have friends and her work was almost her entire life… when was the pleasure bit supposed to work its way in?

“New arrival Charlie, think you’re going to want to see this one, sent here by Lucifer himself.” Charlie tilted her head and stood up, that had piqued her interest. Lucifer hadn’t sent someone down for quite sometime, that wasn’t a problem if her facility wasn’t needed any more then surely that means hell had improved. Charlie followed Vaggie down the hallway and into the entrance block, once you passed a few of the doorways past administration you could start to hear the screams and shouts, mostly incoherent wailing or obscenities. Charlie gritted her teeth, she hated that sound. Trying to keep her mind from focusing on it she spoke as they walked.

“What do you know about our new arrival?” Vaggie looked at her with a serious expression.

“Brought down a few Overlords… a proper monster this one.” Charlie stared in amazement.

“How did he managed that, how long had he been in hell for?” Vaggie’s concern was plain on her face as well as her disgust when she thought about it.

“Think he only just arrived… fucking animal too, he was eating the bodies when Lucifer caught him.”

“You mean my father got personally involved? Normally it’s the sweepers that pick these people up.”

“Don’t think they could have done it… I was there when it happened… there were pieces of people everywhere.”

“So a strong one then? Good thing our maximum wing is reinforced ever since that incident with that Minotaur…” 

“Magic ma’am, Lucifer bound his hands with something and now he can’t do any of that voodoo shit. Hasn’t said a word since he arrived.” 

They entered the doors for processing and Charlie knew instantly who Vaggie must have been referring too, amongst the other rabble that usually got picked up all chained together and awaited registering, there he was standing alone and separated with a wickedly sharp grin on his face. Ashen skin and a suit that was a dark red, he looked beaten but not broken and his eyes were alight, normally the broken and insane were submitted to this place, the fire behind their eyes having gone out years ago. This man though, he had a presence about him and it was intense. Looking down he had manacles tightly around his wrists that had runes carved into them, clearly these were to stop him from using whatever powers he had, there was a long chain holding them together that seemed to almost touch the floor. It was clearly designed so that this creature would never need them off. He would wear them until he died to an angel, Charlie couldn’t see a keyhole either and it confirmed her suspicions. It had been a long time since she had done an introduction but whilst she was here she might as well, she moved to the front of the hall and turned to face the rabble that had been assembled. 

“Hello everyone, my name is Charlotte Magne, and I will be looking after you all during your stay here.” A rather battered man spat at her.

“Fucking princess whore, to that prick Lucier. Fucking let me out and I’ll-” His rant was cut short as Vaggie had moved swiftly over and conjuring her spear drove it straight into his guts and twisted causing him to scream and fall to his knees, the chain linked others were brought onto their knees next to him. Vaggie withdrew the blade and stared with disgust down at the man as he tried desperately to keep his entrails from spilling onto the metal floor. 

“This is a good example, keep quiet and follow our rules and you’ll find your stay stress free, but…” She pointed at the man bleeding on the floor and to the surrounding others.

“If you cause problems, break our rules… you not only make it difficult for yourself but for those standing around you…” There was a quiet whimper as the shouting man clutched at his stomach.

“My fucking guts… you’ve spilled my guts.” Vaggie spat at him.

“They’ll heal, don’t bitch or I’ll make it worse.” Charlie looked around the faces and the grim reality seemed to be setting in, good. Charlie almost did a double take when she realized that the red suited man's gaze was locked onto her with an intense expression, Charlie blinked and when she stepped to one side to allow the guards to start dragging them through, his red eyes followed her step by step. Charlie turned to Vaggie.

“Can I see his paperwork?” Vaggie moved across to the desk and handed a small clipboard before attaching the correct sheet to the front. Charlie moved and paused the guards with a show of her hand as she approached the strange staring individual. She looked up into his smiling face as he stared straight at her.

“Alastor? A.K.A. The radio demon? Your file here says you’ve done some pretty dark things… trying to overthrow Overlords… and eating them? Are you going to be a problem here Mr Radio demon?” There was no response and the smile didn’t shift in the slightest. Charlie’s brow furrowed. She indicated with her head.

“Take him through…” guards hands grabbed him roughly by his sides and started to move him off, he still didn’t say a word but his head turned and he stared at Charlie as he left. Vaggie moved to the side of Charlie in now the empty halls. Vaggie spoke out.

“Something about him seems wrong…” She stared off into the direction he was taken and Charlie looked back down to his file.

“Yeah…”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm having writers block at the moment with one of my other projects and rather than staring at a blank page wishing words word come out of me I decided to turn my frustrations into a new project. I think this could be fun, let me know what you think.


	2. Processing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alastor meets someone in his new prison. Husk tries to get through a night shift in peace.

He was pulled along, feet barely touching the ground and stumbling, the guards either side wouldn’t let him fall over of course and roughly kept him upright. Alastor was using this time to slow them down as much as possible whilst he looked around. Corridors and gated checkpoints were everywhere. Guards too, hellborn creatures if Alastor had to guess, they looked all pretty similar, large red skinned hulking creatures with furled up wings. If they weren’t mortal souls it meant they were going to be fanatically loyal to Lucifer.

It felt like half of him was missing, well in a sense it was. He glanced down at his shadow and saw just a pale imitation of his usual companion. There was a constant dull ache in the back of his head as he felt that his magic being suppressed. His smile stayed fixed on his face, never let anyone see what he was thinking or how much weaker he had become. Charlotte was an interesting character, she ran the place, but first impressions were lacklustre. She had a look of a pale faced doe, it reeked of innocence and it confused Alastor greatly, his instincts were hardly ever wrong but when he caught sight of her the first thing that cross his mind was ‘weak’. Studying her however, her eyes hid something behind those faint yellow orbs. There was far more to her than meets the eye and he would not be fool enough to underestimate her. 

Her silver haired lapdog was exactly what she seemed, a strong arm with fierce loyalty. The way she struck the man who insulted her, Alastor wondered if it was the job or most likely the princess where her enforces loyalty lay. An unholy wailing and screeching was getting louder and there was a junction up ahead, with a sign for ‘sanitarium’ as they passed Alastor caught a glimpse of a long corridor, doors lined each one fitted with a covered viewing slit and a hatch at the bottom to slide food in. All the doors were sturdy and by the spacing probably only a single cell each. 

A place for the deranged indeed, but being dragged past it was clear this was not his destination. The guards were talking amongst themselves and Alastor listened silently, hoping to glean anything.

“So where’s this one going?” 

“Says on his paperwork that he’s going to cell block A.” There was a grunt of surprise.

“That a fucking misprint? This fucker should be in maximum security, I was there after his capture, it was a fucking bloodbath.” Alastor’s smile twitched, good that his handiwork was so impressive. The guard moving in front, with the stack of paper shook his head.

“Magic, he ain’t got shit since Lord Lucifer neutered his powers. So he can go in with the rest of them.” It had been a very disappointing time for the radio demon, he had just finished carving up the most recent Overlord after butchering his way through his entire lair, shadows and creatures of the night following his command in wholesale slaughter.

Overlord tasted just the same as any other demon that he sampled down here and he wanted to get his fill before the creature would reform. Lucifer had struck him like a freight train, and slammed him against a far wall. Alastor had been surprised as his gore soaked body slammed into the concrete. Still, ever the fighter he had ordered his creatures and shadow to attack the interloper, not yet realizing how foolish that indeed was. 

Creatures made of shadow and darkness were treated as exactly that by Lucifer, just shadow and darkness and he stepped through all of them as one might step through a fine mist. Panicked Alastor had summoned tentacles to try to restrain him so he could have chance to escape but with a flick of his wrist Lucifer dispelled them. Lucifer was faster and stronger and Alastor had been beaten badly and left on the floor struggling to stand. But Lucifer never dealt a finishing blow instead he had given him the gift of these manacles that Alastor was sure he would never see the end of, and had told him.

“There’s a special place for filth like you… you don’t know how things are supposed to work in  **my domain** , and I don’t give second chances.” A snapping noise and Lucifer had stamped on both of Alastor’s kneecaps before dragging him outside and dumping his writhing body in the middle of the street before leaving. Crowds had gathered to stare but not a single one approached those that were there had seen the lord and master of hell dealing with this and no one wanted to earn the same fate. Twenty minutes later the truck arrived and the guards of his new home had come to collect him. 

This was it, a place he was trapped in. Panic was beneath him and he didn’t believe in hope or luck. If things were to improve it would be Alastor himself who had to make them happen, patience was key here… and he was an oh so patient hunter. Another door passed by, this one labelled ‘MAXIMUM SECURITY’ well door was an understatement, it looked like a vault entrance that held the worlds most valuable jewels massive and heavily reinforced you could see the key card entry either side of its massive frame. Behind you could just about hear a low roaring and the slow pounding of something very large and very heavy hitting metal. 

He was analysing everything in sight, but so far there were no weakness, nothing seemed corroded there were constant turns and locked doors in the hallways, and the exit wasn’t labelled, this entire palace seemed to be design to confuse someone if they were trying to make an escape attempt in a hurry. It looked bleak, but this was just day one… there was plenty of time for him to escape, almost half a year in fact. A grating sound of a gate grinding to one side snapped him out of his thoughts and he looked up to see the end of the corridor and another guard checkpoint before being roughly pushed through, he straightened up as he stumbled to stop himself falling over, much to the guards' disappointment. The gate slid shut behind him.

“Enjoy your stay.” Several guards turned to leave, there was some gridded screen behind what looked like reinforced glass and several guards were sat there in a small booth, keeping watch it seemed. Turning his attention to what was in front of him Alastor surveyed the large open hall he was in, there were several staircases that lead to a walkway that snaked around the top of the room, cells were located every few feet and there were creatures everywhere, male and female, moving around, talking, swearing, doing exercise or other pointless things to keep busy. On the ground level there were several long benches where several souls were sat eating. This had every hallmark of a prison. A dark furred spider with red eyes got up from his place on a bench and started to make his way over, Alastor’s eyes snapped to him and he turned, letting his arms hang loose the jangle of chains sounded as they hit the floor. 

“Hey new blood, you come from outside right? What does the clock say.” Alastor didn’t respond and stared at him, the grin never leaving his face, there was a tap on the glass as one of the guards called across.

“It’s not a fucking secret Arackniss, we keep telling you, one hundred and eighty-two days.” The dark spider laughed and spat on the floor in their direction.

“Like I’m going to trust you fuckers!” The guard shrugged and ignored him. Arackniss leaned in, “Is he right?” Alastor paused before thinking back to when he last saw the clock and then nodded. That earned a grin and the red eyed spider went to nudge him with his elbow Alastor quickly side stepped. The spider held out his hands up in a quick surrender.

“Hey there, no disrespect silent man, don’t talk much and don’t like to be touched? Follow me I’ll show ya round.” He indicated with his hand and started to move away. Alastor took one last look at the only exit before walking around. 

“Welcome to the rest of your days in hell, it’s not so bad… I mean when I fuckin’ bought it, thought that was it. You’re in Charlie’s facility, though… don’t ever call her that. We’re the fuckin’ trash here so it’s Princess Charlotte to us, Charlie to her friends. She doesn’t come round often… you’re lucky that you’re in the minimum security wing, we’re the fuck ups here… What did you do?” There was no response and Arackniss let out a dry laugh.

“Proper mute, ain’tcha? I worked for the mob, translated pretty well down here ‘till I kidnapped the wrong fucking kid, thought it was an easy cash crab… turns out they had friends in high enough places… fuck my luck right?” Alastor was watching the spider talk… he sounded like he knew his stuff around here, even if he was a bit chatty. 

Information around here was at best second hand, with no inmate ever staying longer than a year, learning about the rest of the place solely resided on what the guards would talk about. Alastor learnt enough to get a picture of this place. He was located in one of several minimum security wings, these holding areas were designed for demons and souls who were ‘undesirable’ but not dangerous, with it came privilege. The guards were the most lax around them and getting small items smuggled in was easy. Trade started and a packet of cigarettes is gold dust here. Charlie seemed to have enough of a heart that she left them mind their own business as long as they were never ‘disruptive’. The maximum security was a little tighter, a place designed for monstrous inmates, huge muscled creatures that needed to be kept in special cells to stop them from turning a building to rubble with their sheer mass and rage. 

Then you move over to the sanitarium, padded single cells were the deranged and mentally unstable were kept under constant supervision, most of them drugged out of their mind to keep them docile. Forced bliss through ignorance, most didn’t even notice when the exterminating angels descended and sat there with half drunk smiles on their faces as they were cut apart. Solitary confinement was the dark punishment located somewhere deep in the facility, no one who went there came back. Only rumours existed of what it might contain and none of the guards no matter how hefty the bribe or how friendly you were, would ever spilled the beans about it. Clearly there was something going on there that Charlie didn’t want people to know about. 

“So, silent man, just grab yourself a bunk if its unmade it's yours, you’ll probably be sharing and I err, would put up a sign about the no touchy… some of the women here are er.” He tugged at his collar.

“Persistent.” The thought bothered the radio demon who stared at Arackniss as he left. He had shown Alastor where food was served and taken him to the shower room and laundry room before finally ending back at the large hall. He was in a giant cage, like some form of pet. Arackniss, seemed to have solid head on his shoulders and Alastor was still watching him as he entered a cell that must be his he supposed. Either he was in denial or he had accepted the finality of his existences end. A bit grim, but Alastor could work with grim. He moved over and stood by the open barred door. Looking across there were two bunk bed frames, so four souls. Alastor moved in and Arackniss lifted an eyebrow in surprise.

“Well silent man, you fancy stayin’ here? That’s fine with me, but you might need to learn how to plug your ears. The others stayin’ here are fuckin’ loud when they want to be.” Noisy sleepers? Alastor could deal with it and he nodded once before turning to start make his bedding.

What a place, a prison… located in hell. 

***

The sound of an unscrewed metal cap, before the dark golden amber liquid poured into the steaming cup of coffee. Husk sighed and screwed his hip flask back up before stuffing it in his jacket and taking a sip of his now very Irish coffee. He let out a sigh, he was never content so it was just a groan. He turned his attention back to the wall of monitors as he watched the security camera’s circle through the feeds. It cut too cell block A and he groaned and rolled his eyes, there were cameras located in every cell and around every corner, privacy was non-existent. 

The standard fare, it was night-time and the klaxon had sounded out, the doors had slid closed on their automatic rails as everyone was shepherded in for the night and then the pairs and couples would fuck with wild abandon. Husk averted his eyes after a quick glance to make sure none of them were doing anything against the rules. He really wished Vaggie had won that discussion, she had argued about them separated and assigning cells to stop this from happening but Charlie had declined. She had argued that it gave a few of them a reason not to misbehave else they would get taken away to solitary. Unfortunately she was right, and the various couples always ended being the least trouble, not wanting to risk getting separated before the inevitable end. 

His eyes glanced over and he stared, before suppressing a dry laugh.

“Looks like there’s an asshole who’s having just about as much fun as me.” A new inmate was lying above the bunk of Arackniss. Eyes staring straight up at the ceiling with a forced smile plastered all over his face. Now that was a look from someone who had died on the inside. The bed frame across from them was rocking back and forth as the pair of demons under one of the single mattresses went at it and by the nine circles Husk was glad these cameras didn’t have sound. He grinned to himself as the feed looped around and that camera feed was gone.

“Good luck you poor fucker, hope they finish quick.” A small voice by his side made Husk jump forward and gasp.

“Who needs luck?” 

“Gah! fuck!” His coffee rocked forward in his hands and a small amount spilled and splashed on his desk and he frowned at the waste of perfect whiskey. A small hand had whipped out and a cloth had cleaned the stain before it even had chance to settle. Husker turned in his chair and to no ones surprise a tiny red haired cyclops stood there smiling at him with the dirty cloth still in her hand, she folded it up and it seemed to just disappear behind her back. Husk groaned.

“The fuck do you want Niffty?” The tiny demon fidgeted in place and looked up at him, she was clutching a small bag in her hand. 

“H-Hi, Husk, I knew you were on night shift and just brought you somethi-” Husk face looked unimpressed 

“I don’t want it.” Niffty gave out a nervous laugh and rubbed the back of her head with her free hand as she clutched the bag tighter. 

“Ha ha, you don’t even know what it is.” Husk rolled his eye and took a sip of his coffee. 

“I get the feeling you’re not going to leave me alone, so lets get this over with.” he moved and put the cup down on the desk on its coaster. Niffty held out the back and Husk took it. The top was covered by a thin layer of dark red tissue paper. 

“So you remember how I said I was taking up crochet?”

“No.” Husk spoke flatly, another tiny laugh.

“Ha… Well, it’s been going well and I thought you could use a friend since it gets lonely here at night…” Husk pulled aside the paper and removed the small knitted animal, it was a cat with a white face and belly, with tiny little red wings and long wispy red eyebrows. 

“This supposed to be me?” Niffty nodded and looked on hopefully. Husk turned it over, it was well-made at least. He sighed.

“It’s alright I guess but you missed out the soul crushing expression.” Niffty blinked.

“I gave it a smile! So it could cheer you up if you were ev-” A female voice called through and Niffty practically jumped three feet in the air. Charlie had poked her head around the doorway to the security office.

“Everything looking quiet tonight? Oh! Hello Niffty, you doing okay?” Niffty had gone bright red and scurried out the room with a tiny nod towards Charlie.

“I’m fine! Just need to be going home now! Have a good evening Princess, H-Husk…” Charlie eyes watched Niffty scamper out of sight before turning her attention back to Husk who was still holding the tiny doll of himself and she sniggered. 

“Think someone might have a little crush…” Husk rolled his eyes and moved his hand over before dropping the tiny doll straight into the waste paper bin by the foot of the desk. Charlie pouted. 

“Well that’s no fun. You two should go on a date, you’d make a cute couple…” Husk groaned and grabbed his coffee and took a large swig.

“Tell ya what Charlie, when you get in a stable relationship, then I’ll let you give me advice…” Charlie folded her arms.

“Hey! I’ve had stable relationships!” Husk stare could have cracked granite. Charlie faltered.

“W-Well, I’ve been on a successful date, at least…” The stare intensified and Charlie felt if there were any plants in eyesight of Husk they would have withered away. 

“Alright fine! But I can imagine what it might be like! I think you’re missing out!” Husk blinked slowly.

“Uh-huh… Well I won’t hold my breath on that… shouldn’t you be getting home?” Charlie let out a dry laugh.

“What, to my empty place? Should probably live here at this rate… save my commute times.” Husk took another loud sip before turning back to the screens.

“It’s all looking quiet anyway, like most nights.” Charlie nodded.

“Oh, good. Well goodnight Husk.” The cat didn’t turn back around.

“Night, Charlie…” He waited for several minutes and when he didn’t hear any other footsteps approaching or leaving he reached a clawed hand down and picked up the mini Husk and placed it on his desk so it was staring up at him with its strangely affectionate smiling face. He stared at its stitched eyes, he didn’t smile at it but for a brief moment Husk thought about smiling.

***

The door closed and Charlie took her shoes off and plopped them by her front door before moving into her apartment, it was a couple of blocks away and was nicely decorated, movie paraphernalia littered the walls, posters and fake props from her favourite musicals. She let out a sigh and moved straight into the kitchen and pulled out a container from the fridge that held left over chinese takeaway from the night before dumping it on a plate and shoving it in the microwave. Whilst that was whiring away she pulled out a bottle of wine from the fridge and got a glass out before pouring herself a very large amount taking a gulp and then topping it up just in time for the microwave to ding. She gingerly took out the plate just holding onto it with her finger tips and placed it on a tray before carrying that and her wine over to the sofa and plopping herself down on it. 

She loaded up her helflix account and put on an episode of that animated show she liked, she hummed along to the theme tune. Charlie didn’t care if it was for baby demons, she liked it and no one was here to judge her!

**My Little Nightmare, My Little Nightmare**

**Ah - ah - ah - aAAAAH!**

**My Little Nightmare**

**I used to wonder what torment could be**

She took another sip of wine and smiled to herself, then paused and sighed before running fingers through her own golden hair.

“Maybe… I am undatable… No! I just haven’t found the right person yet…” She looked around, who was she even talking to? She ate the rest of her meal and let the next episode auto-play before getting up and topping up her glass, only a third of the bottle remained and she shrugged and took that back with her too, her head was starting to swim slightly as she rested her feet up on the sofa and snuggled into the cushions and laughed and snorted at the silly cartoon antics she was watching. 

After that glass was finished she just drank straight from the bottle until nothing but dregs remained and she unsteadily held the bottle high into the air tempting the last few drops before it slipped and clunked onto the floor before rolling away from her reaching hand and she let out a swear. She grabbed her phone out of her pocket and blinked at it, she’d show Husk a thing or two! She could get a relationship if she wanted to… loading straight into an app store she downloaded that dating app everyone seemed to be going crazy over, ‘kindling’. Charlie frowned and accepted whatever the terms and conditions were, the writing was really small and she could hardly be bothered with it. She had her tongue stuck out as she concentrated on not getting any spelling mistakes. 

“Making a profile… write something about me…”

**I’m a career driven girl, looking for that special someone.** **  
** **  
** **Love musicals and Chinese food nom nom!** **  
** **  
** **Don’t care about height…** **  
** **  
** **Not just looking for a fling** **  
** **  
** **If we match, try to make me laugh**

“Not too wordy…” Charlie read through it a couple of times before turning on her camera and took a smiling selfie and saving it. 

“I’ll make you eat your stare Husk!” She giggled before getting to her feet and unsteadily swaying around before reaching down and picking up the bottle and placing it in the kitchen before tidying up and heading to bed. 

***

Husk yawned, and stretched out as his back arched and his wings unfurled before he settled himself back down and pulled out the hip flask and took another swig as he suppressed a yawn. The camera feed looped back round to cell block A and Husk lazily glanced across all the monitors and then blinked, paused and sat up straight, staring. He pressed a button on the keyboard to pause the loop so it would stay on its fixed feed and he got up from his seat and moved towards the screen. There was the cell that Arackniss and the new guy again. Three of them were sleeping but the new fellow wasn’t He was standing a still as a statue looming over the couple sharing a bed on the bottom bunk. He was just standing there staring down at them probably less than six inches away. He had the chain from his manacle clutched in both hands and held it like a garotte.

“The fuck are you doing in there?” Husk reached a clawed hand over to grab at the walkie-talkie on his desk to alert the guards in cell block, his fingers brushed against it and knocked it slightly further away, he sighed and turned to look at the thing he was grabbing and when he turned back he almost fell off his chair. Alastor’s grinning face was pressed right up against screen as he was staring straight into camera. 

“FUCK!” 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	3. Inspection

“The fuck is he doing?” Husk was rubbing his face, he was exhausted and wanted to go home, his shift had ended almost two hours ago but he had stuck around so he could show Vaggie the surveillance footage. Together in his security booth, they watched the entire footage again, for what felt like the thousandth time, getting to his last bundle of frayed nerves Husk grumbled out. 

“What do I look like? A fucking mind reader?” Vaggie frowned at the unsurprising sarcastic response and started the tape from the beginning. Alastor never went to sleep and it was several hours when everyone else seemed to have quietened down when he descended from his bunk to just stand above the sleeping couple, then with a crackle on the feed he was staring at the camera before getting back into bed before the guard patrol arrived after Husk had alerted that something weird was going on in there.

Alastor  _ technically  _ had done nothing wrong, he hadn’t assaulted or touched anyone or anything, he also hadn’t damaged the security camera in any way. Still, something sat very wrong with Vaggie, she knew her gut instinct were right, this guy was going to be trouble it was as plain to her as his unsettling smile was plastered across his face. Husk groaned again,

“Look can I go? You’ve seen the footage countless times now… you can report it to Charlie when she gets in… I need to fucking sleep!” Vaggie didn’t take eye away from the screen and paused it on the most unsettling moment, that smiling face pressed right up against the camera.

“Sure Husk…” Gathering himself up, he stretched out before slouching over and walking his way out of the office and down the corridor. He let out a pained sigh when he saw Niffty moving towards him, she had that smile on her face again as she waved at everyone in the admin block, she hadn’t seen him yet and if Husk was feeling like a younger man he might have leapt through an open door to evade her sight, he just didn’t care about anything at the moment and he rolled his eyes when she spotted him and paused, confused before smiling at him and calling over.

“Morning Husk? You’re going home late?” 

“Yup…” Niffty smile faulted slightly when he didn’t offer any other explanation.

“Something happen?”

“Nope…” 

“Oh… well have a good rest, see you at the end of my day I suppose?” Husk didn’t respond and then walked past her, he paused.

“I wouldn’t waste your time on that.” Niffty looked downright panicked.

“W-What?” 

“It’s my day off tomorrow.” He turned to look at her as she seemed to let out a tiny sigh of relief, what was she thinking about? She grinned at him.

“Well, have a good time.” Husk shrugged his shoulders and continued on, responding but not calling out to anyone in particular.

“I wouldn’t know a good time even if it beat me and stole a kidney….” Niffty watched him leave with a pining look. Before turning back, her shift was due to start soon and she had the whole admin block to clean today. As she passed Husk’s office area she risked a glimpse inside the open door to see Vaggie hunched over the desk looking distressed, Niffty furrowed her brow, Vaggie could be a bit abrasive to everyone when she was in a bad mood, well anyone who wasn’t Charlie. Niffty declined to say anything but caught a glimpse of her gift still sat on the desk and it brought a rosy glow to her cheeks. 

***

Charlie was wearing dark sunglasses when she stepped in and she felt like her headache could be outwardly visible, she groaned as the door slammed behind her. Well at least she wasn’t late, but she needed to remember not to drink a whole bottle of wine in the evening. She set her bag down in her office and opened up one of her drawers and pulled out a small box of aspirin before popping a couple in her mouth and swigging the bottle of water she had and swallowing it all down. There was a knock at her door and she furrowed her brow, someone was eager.

“Come in.” Vaggie stepped in and looked more serious than usual. Charlie slipped her sunglasses off and placed them on the desk, Vaggie’s face faltered for a moment.

“Are you alright ma’am?” Charlie rubbed her hands over face and sighed.

“I’m fine, it’s just a headache… and please call me Charlie, you know I’ve talked to you about that.” Vaggie pursed her lips but nodded.

“Very well, Charlie. Think we might have a problem with the radio demon.” Charlie let out a long exhalation.

“What’s he done? He’s been here less than one whole day!” Vaggie looked uncomfortable.

“Nothing… yet.” Charlie looked confused.

“What do you mean  _ yet. _ ” 

“He wasn’t sleeping last night and just stared at his other cellmates, and at the camera.” Charlie looked more perplexed.

“That’s not against any of our rules, sure it’s a bit weird, but I mean we’re looking after the weird ones!” Vaggie shook her head.

“Charlie, it's more than that… there’ something wrong with him… more than the others… I think he needs to go to solitary.” Charlie almost choked.

“Vaggie, don’t you think that’s a little extreme? By your own admission, he hasn’t done anything wrong! And of course there’s something wrong with him… he’s been sent here by my father…” Vaggie almost looked desperate.

“Please, take my advice on this, I think it would be better for everyone if we kept him locked in solitary.” Charlie got up and straightened her outfit.

“Look, I’ll give the cell block an inspection and see if I notice anything strange going on… I’m not just going to send him to solitary, It goes against everything I’ve set up here… look they might not like it here but everyone in that cell block has accepted that you play by my rules and we give them leeway, if I just start locking randoms’ up because we think they might play up, it’ll ruin what we’ve done.” Vaggie looked unhappy but nodded.

“As you wish, I’ll get some guards ready for your inspection…” Charlie shook her head.

“Don’t bother I might just have a headache but I’m hardly helpless, plus they’ve been good in there…” Vaggie opened her mouth to argue but then just closed it again and sighed.

“Very well.” Vaggie loved working for Charlie, she believed in her work, and her as a person, she really did. But Charlie was stubborn as a mule when it came to a decision she had already made. Vaggie didn’t doubt Charlie could protect herself, she just felt she shouldn’t have to.

***

Alastor followed Arackniss out and followed his example of grabbing a plastic tray and waiting in line for a queue that had formed on the lower levels waiting for the kitchen screen to open up and start serving breakfast. 

“How’d ya sleep?” Arackniss looked at Alastor whose smile twitched as his eyes glanced over behind them to the couple that shared their cell, they were holding hands several people behind them in the queue. Arackniss let out a laugh.

“Ha, warned ya didn’t I silent man? You get used to it… I know it's an adjustment here but you’ll get used to it in no time… better than trying to fight it… doesn’t do ya any good.” Alastor nodded, although he completely disagreed, he was going to get out… he just needed to come up with a plan and not a half rushed one like trying to kill his way out, he might still be a proficient hunter, magic or no, but with the amount of strong guards he would get worn out by the fifth body. He was snapped out of his thoughts by the sounds of a shutter rolling up and revealing the kitchen as the queue began to step forward to get food. It wasn’t the food that interested him but the cooks, they were other inmates and looking past them it was a fully stocked kitchen, pots pans and gas cooker… a microwave. Alastor froze up for a second as he looked at it, and then an idea formed into his head… a devilishly clever one too. He didn’t particular want to touch the spider in front of him so he gestured with his hands to get his attention and then pointed at the kitchen. Arackniss followed his finger and looked.

“What, you’re into cooking?” Alastor nodded with a grin. Arackniss let out a dry laugh.

“Tall, dark, quiet and now you’re tellin’ me your into cooking? Tell ya what silent man, if I had a girl I’d be worried you was gunna steal her away.” He laughed and Alastor smiled stretched almost a little too thin, he was rolling his eyes internally, he needed to know things and jokes weren’t helping him here. Arackniss continued.

“You need to have been here a while, been on good behaviour before they let you in on kitchen volunteering, I mean they check all the knives are back anyway… I think they just want to make it seem like a treat or whatever… fucking assholes.” Alastor nodded again… good behaviour? He could pretend to be good if it got him closer to his goals. His mind was racing with possibilities, there was a few things he needed but he could get a lot of them from the kitchen. 

It was his turn and he moved his tray forward and a large dollop of what looked like questionably cooked porridge was dumped on it, he looked down at it before back at the ‘cook’

“What? Got a fucking problem?” Alastor kept his grin and shook his head and moved away before he ended up doing something he would regret, like drowning the man in the vat of porridge, he collected a spoon and sat down by himself, he didn’t need to hang around Arackniss all the time and needed his quiet time. He almost wretched putting the spoonful of gruel in his mouth. 

Call this cooking? Even if he was going in there for other reasons, he’d show everyone what you could actually do in a kitchen regardless of the quality of ingredients. There were a lot more guards around at the moment. Alastor took the time to look around, clearly they were keeping watch to make sure no one tried to steal any cutlery… a spoon handle if jabbed hard enough could certainly penetrate the soft belly of a man. Alastor had certainly done a lot worse, with a lot less. But he wasn’t going to try to steal anything… yet. He begrudgingly finished his meal, and turned his nose up at the thought of what might constitute lunch or dinner. He let himself drift away to the idea of devouring a few of the other inmates… at least that would taste good and the hunt of tearing them apart with his bare hands. His heart palpatated and he had to force a hard breath out to calm himself down. This was the sort of shit he had to keep under control here. A shout got his attention and he turned in his seat to look over at the gated entrance.

“INSPECTION!” The gate slid open and judging by the confused faces around him, this wasn’t a regular occurrence, there was a hush of whispers when out of the doorway Princess Charlotte stepped forward wearing that small smile and looking around. Again, Alastor’s hands twitched. Why the hell was she alone? It was almost like dangling bait in front of a starving animal, her innocent face looking around and smiling outwardly. Innocence and vulnerability, she reeked of both but something was stopping him, the rational part of his brain was slamming the brakes on his body. He wanted to just run over to her, he could get there faster than any nearby guard could intervene and then using his manacles get her prisoner and demand his freedom or her suffering would be tremendous, that was the part of him that wanted out… the feral far more dangerous part of his mind had conjured all kinds of indecent images, painting her pale body scarlet or claiming what he could from her body.

But surely she knew this was a risk in her prison… so why was she guard-less, unless she knew something. Apparently he wasn’t the only one who was thinking this and apart from the other looks of confusion, one creature looked angry… it was that same fool who got gutted the day before… oh this was going to be good. The creatures eyes darted around before bringing the spoon to his mouth in a feigned attempt at pretending to eat, except it was empty. He bit the spoon hard, with his sharp jaws and when he retracted it from his mouth it had a jagged point and he reached into his mouth to pull out and place the sheared other half deep in his porridge. 

Alastor thought it was clever, but the execution was sloppy, there was a small amount of red tricking in the corner of his mouth so clearly he had cut himself in the attempt. Still, this could be interesting to watch. To Alastor’s surprise Charlie spotted the radio demon and moved towards him, he felt a chill run up his spine as he felt every single pair of eyes fall on him, this was great for keeping a low profile… not.

She sat down on the bench opposite from him and smiled, he returned the smile and stared at her.

“Good morning Alastor, did you sleep well?” He nodded once.

“That’s good, listen I’m just here checking you in, I got a few reports that you were up to unusual activities last night? You wouldn’t want to cause me trouble would you?” Alastor paused and shook his head, there was something that was a little off with her tone, almost a warning but not quite. Charlie beamed at him.

“That’s great, so if you wouldn’t mind keeping a respectful distance during other’s sleep that would be wonderful and whilst I appreciate you inspecting of our security equipment getting so close to our camera’s does block out the rest of the room, and you wouldn’t want us to think you were up to no good, would you?” Alastor shook his head and then titled his head to one side as Charlie stared at him with a strangely intense expression and he wasn’t exactly sure where that came from.

“You’re nothing like your file you know? I think I might need to make changes to it… you’re very agreeable and I appreciate that…” Alastor wondered exactly what was written about him, but an idea came to him and he turned to point at the kitchen. Charlie looked and then smiled.

“Not happy with your meal? Want to add your own flair?” Alastor nodded and Charlie smiled at him.

“Well, see if you can work on what we discussed and maybe we can look into it for you, sound fair?” Alastor nodded and then his gaze shifted to the side as a shadow loomed over Charlie. Her eyes shifted sideways and her smile rather than seeming natural suddenly had a forced quality to it. Alastor was conflicted with how he wanted to play this, did he plan to see how this was going to end up? Or should he try to intervene for a few good points on his belt. Thinking about it, he started to shift in his seat and he moved his eyes back from the looming creature to Charlie and then he was surprised when Charlie motioned ‘no’ with her hand and their eyes met briefly. 

Well, colour Alastor impressed. Charlie could read a feeling well enough, she turned her head up.

“Can I help you? You’re rather rudely interrupting a conversation I was having.” The grin spread and the small amount of bloodied spittle dribbled down.

“I’ll fuckin’ teach you about sicking your fucking dog on me yesterday… should have had guards  _ princess whore. _ ” There was a collective gasp as a large amount of inmates immediately started moving away, wanting to be nowhere near this and the guards started rushing forward, I mean they weren’t going to get anywhere near close enough in time and Charlie let out a sigh. As an arm came swinging down and roughly stabbed straight through her clothes and into her guts. Charlie didn’t even blink and just looked bored, as the crude shiv was pulled out and jabbed straight back in a frenzy of movement. Alastor’s eyes were sharper and there wasn’t any blood on that weapon and the frenzied action was just tearing into her jacket, patches of pale skin were starting to shine through perfectly clean and unblemished. The frenzied assault ended when a large guard tackled the creature straight into the table that sent Alastor’s tray spinning off, he was grateful he had eaten it all, else he would be wearing it. There was a snapping noise as the assaulters' wrist was broken and the blade scattered away from him, it skidded to Alastor’s feet. More guards had dog piled in and Charlie was getting to her feet. Alastor reached down and without prompt placed the failed weapon on the table and slid it towards Charlie, the jagged edge had been blunted.

Charlie paused for just a moment and her eyes glanced back to Alastor before she took it and turned it over in her hands. The creature was raised struggling to his feet, swearing and spitting. Charlie tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

“I’m sorry that you couldn’t accept your place within our little facility… It pains me to see someone so lost, not only have you ruined my perfectly favourite red suit… you also damaged one of my spoons. It seems you don’t respect me, and that hurts. Take him to solitary…” 

“Fuck you bitch!, you’ll get yours!” He was dragged screaming and kicking and Charlie’s smile spread.

“I doubt that… anyway I’m very sorry that you had to see that Alastor… some people don’t understand what it means to know their place here… you won’t have that trouble will you?” Alastor shook his head and kept his eyes locked onto Charlie’s.

“I think you’ll fit in just right… have a good rest of your day.” She turned to follow the guards out, still dragging the inmate away, just as she passed the threshold of the gated entrance and it began to slide closed she called back.

“Don’t forget about what I asked.” Alastor got up before picking up his scattered tray and spoon and placed it back on the table. 

Charlie looked down and put a few fingers through the holes in her top, she was going to get an earful from Vaggie, she just knew it. Not like it hurt her… or even scratched her. But it was all about appearances her second would say. Still, she followed behind the group of guards down an unmarked section of corridor before it terminated in a large lift that required a key to open and they all got inside, the attacker still spitting and swearing but Charlie had tuned him out as the elevator rattled downwards. 

Her thoughts instead turned to the silent radio demon, and his piercing gaze, he wasn’t an idiot she could see the way he reviewed everything, he was no bloodthirsty crazed lunatic cannibal which is exactly what his report had eluded too. Alastor was almost civil… that was a puzzle in itself, most of this information came for Lucifer directly regarding the radio demon. Maybe she was just imagining something that wasn’t there, maybe Alastor had the fight beaten out of him and he was simply a shell of his former self. The lift rumbled to a stop and they all got out in a much darker section of her facility deep in the bowels of hell. The last thought that plagued her mind before stepping out and returning to the task at hand.

Alastor had such lovely eyes. Daddy couldn’t be wrong, could he? 


	4. Scream for me.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Charlie starts to look deeper into Alastor's file.
> 
> A new Inmate joins Cell block A and Alastor gets an idea.

The screaming was constant and Charlie gritted her teeth, her headache had yet to dissipate and this certainly wasn’t helping. Finally, the machinery stopped whirling away and began to whine as it powered down. Charlie moved to the other side of the room and she took off the large green apron she had donned to keep her clothes clean and hung it on a hook, it was covered in blood and she pulled off her rubber gloves and left them by the side on metal table. The only noise now was the pitiful panting from the creature in the centre of the room, but Charlie rolled her eyes and left, another new inmate into solitary. 

“Once he can stand take him into storage.” The two guards nodded and moved into the room as Charlie made her way back down the basement corridors, she idly ran a hand over her neck, the kickback from the machinery made her feel funny and she turned her head trying to ease the muscles in her neck. She could really do with a neck rub, perhaps she should ask her imaginary boyfriend for one. 

She laughed to no-one but herself as she continued to walk alone and headed back to the main facility. Charlie needed to do some paperwork and also a strange niggling sensation, she wanted to double check Alastor’s case file as well, something wasn’t quite sitting right. Passing through the main office she spotted Vaggie and tried to pick up the pace but the silver haired woman had spotted her and moved over.

“How was the inspec-” as she approached she saw Charlie’s tattered top.

“Ma’am! Are you okay? What happened?” Charlie rolled her eyes and sighed.

“I told you, call me Charlie… anyway nothing… one of the new inmates couldn’t accept it here and tried to shank me, made it out of a spoon. Quite creative really.”

“I knew that fuck Alastor couldn’t be trusted, did he get sent down to Solitary?” Charlie crossed her arms and frowned.

“Actually, Alastor and I were talking about his behavour and he responded really well, he even handed me the weapon than try to keep it.” Vaggie rolled her eye.

“Only because he saw how ineffective it was, If he thought he could hurt you he wouldn’t hesitate! I don’t trust that psycho!” Charlie stared, why did Vaggie hate him so much, sure he had done some really violent things, but hardly worse than anyone else in here, and in fact Alastor even had aspirations to get in the kitchen, it’s like he was accepting his palace and Charlie hated that everyone was giving him so little credit when it came to his stay. 

This was the final destination for these souls so if it could be made a little easier for them Charlie was willing to consider it, after all every death here meant that another on the streets to keep their existence intact. She wasn’t a monster, it was just monstrous business. 

“I don’t want to discuss this any more Vaggie, Alastor is fine where he is until you can prove to me that he’s breaking one of our rules! Now I’m going into my office and please don't disturb me unless its critical… okay?” Vaggie seemed to bite back the remark that she was holding but nodded.

“Yes… Charlie.” Charlie let out a sigh

“Thank you.” She continued walking and got back to her office and shut the door before moving over to take another couple of aspirin with her water and hoped that might help her head. She booted up the computer on her desk and waited for the archaic thing to tick over before she loaded the patient file system. 

**First name: Alastor**

**Surname: Unknown**

**Aliases: The Radio Demon**

**Powers: Conjuration, spirit control tied with Haitian Voodoo practices, physical strength and agility.**

**Threat assessment: Critical (Medium with dampened magic)**

**Crimes: Wholesale slaughter of Overlord estates and direct attacks against Lord Lucifer’s holdings. Devouring his enemies**

**Recommended: Immediate solitary confinement with maximum security protocols initiated.**

Charlie blinked, that didn’t make any sense at all, there were far worse crimes that had been committed, either this was a gross overreaction to his actions or his full crimes haven’t been listed, or someone wants him disappeared. Solitary was bad enough but what they were suggesting, with maximum security protocols Charlie didn’t even like to consider it, it was for a true nightmare. 

You take a prisoner who has become either such a danger to others or the facility so you seal them in one of the underground cells, no windows… not vents… just concrete and then the door is sealed. A solid single piece of metal that is then welded into place. The condemned run out of air pretty quick and are just continually reborn in perpetual agony unable to move or breathe until the year is up and the doors are opened for the exterminators to gain access.

This was for creatures who couldn’t be controlled, who had abilities far beyond the normal. Alastor’s magic had been muzzled and by her own father too, so why was there such prejudice against him! Charlie turned off the screen and leant back in her chair as she massaged her temples. She was glad she didn’t take the recommended steps but she was almost certain it was why Vaggie was trying so hard to get him down there, she was a real by the books' lady, and whilst for the most part Charlie appreciated it, she could tell they were going to be butting heads for a long time. 

***

Alastor was idly sat down and playing with the long bench he was sat by drumming his fingers across its surface quietly, it was out to a steady rhythm and he missed the sound of music, his smile twitched slightly. He wanted to be good, wanted to get into that kitchen, but he was so bored, he could hardly exercise with these chains around his wrists and no one apart from Arackniss seemed to want anything to do with him. Apparently one of the guards had let slip about what he had done, the fact that Lucifer had to bring him down personally, he felt like he might as well have been given the black spot the way everyone skirted around him, and to be fair he quite enjoyed it, it was peaceful. Even more enjoyable is when that damnable couple that shared cells with him found out they moved quick as a flash to another cell. Alastor watched them moving and the smile on his face was nothing but natural.

Arackniss didn’t seem to care, no… that would be a lie. He knew how dangerous he was the black spider was not a fool, Alastor could tell that much, but he was apparently rational enough about it that he didn’t believe Alastor would do anything stupid or horrifying whilst under constant supervision and manacled, and whilst in a different world Alastor would love to have proved him wrong, he needed to be good. Needed it, desperately. 

Alastor’s deer ears pricked, he could hear the screaming coming from down the corridor, a woman struggling and pleading, it sounded frantic and desperate and soon enough others were turning to look around as well.

“N-NO! IT WAS A FUCKIN’ MISTAKE! I D-DIN’T KNOW THE PLACE BELONGED TO HIM! T-THIS IS JUST A MISTAKE… DON’T LOCK ME AWAY… I’LL DO ANYTHING! ANYTHIN’… I’M FUCKIN’ SORRY, PLEASE…. PLEASE DON’T!” A struggling figure appeared by the gate as it opened and two guards threw a woman inside she landed hard on her back before scrambling up panicked and practically launched herself at the gate as it slammed shut and gripped the bars with shaking hands and she was pleading. She was wearing ripped and torn leggings and mismatched shoes and a red mini skit with crop top, her large amounts of blonde and pink hair was scattered everywhere as she blinked her large red eye and was frantically looking for someone, to pay attention to her, no guard was.

  
  


“TELL VOX IT WAS A MISTAKE, I DIDN’T KNOW, PLEASE! I DIDN’T WANT TO CAUSE HIM TROUBLE… PLEASE!” There was a soft sigh and Alastor turned his head to look at Arackniss who had approached Alastor to see what the commotion, he looked sad for a moment.

“That’s one of my brothers friends… he’ll be gutted when he learns Cherri got thrown in here, but fuck it if I didn’t warn him that she was trouble…” Alastor turned his attention back to the Cyclops who in what appeared to be a fear fuelled panic, had begun to shake and rattle at the gate as she shouted out. Others had started to watch as well, and there were a few smiles too.

“She needs to calm the fuck down... else she gunna bring down all kinds of shit on herself…” She didn’t quieten down, and two short klaxon blasts sounded out across the area. 

“Fuck, we need to go silent man… the iron maidens coming and we don’t want to be out here…” Alastor looked confused at the spider but everyone else around him were very quickly making their way back to cells and turning to watch Cherri as she shouted out unanswered pleas. Alastor followed quickly not wanting for this to be an excuse for his behaviour to be marked down and stood next to the spider as a klaxon blasted out again and all the cell doors slid shut, leaving Cherri alone in the main hall and the gate she was clutching began to slide open and she took a staggered step back before a blur of grey and silver slammed straight into her kneeing her straight in the stomach and making Cherri double over gasping for air. There was a collective wince sounding from the watching cells as Vaggie grabbed Cherri’s hair and slammed her head straight into the concrete floor, there was a wet crunch and judging by the pool of red a few teeth had fractured form the impact. 

“Shut the fuck up! You’re here to stay so don’t fucking scream for mercy, you’re guilty and if it was up to me I’d send you to solitary right now for giving me a fucking headache.” Alastor wasn’t sure but could have sworn there was a glance towards his cell.

“But Princess Charlotte has more mercy than me, so if you ever get lucky enough to see her, fucking thank her on hands and knees that you get this much freedom… fucking trash.” She spat on the floor and Cherri had curled up and began to sob uncontrollably. Vaggie glanced around.

“Know your fucking place!” The gate behind her slid open and she stormed off, as soon as the gate shut the klaxon blared out a short noise and all the cells were opened once more and souls began to file out, almost all of them were avoiding looking at Cherri who was still clutching her face and sobbing. Arackniss spoke out quietly.

“She was always a free spirit… I don’t think she’ll survive in here, most don’t do well if they have to be reminded who’s in charge…” He looked sadly at the curled up woman and sighed.

“Angel always did like her, I hope he never finds out how bad this place breaks people…” Alastor took his time to stare with a smile fixed on his face. He had been broken before he was brought here, but he was determined to pull himself together. Cherri on the other hand looked pathetic right now, and judging from the whispers that he could hear as his ears twitched, other inmates were planning what to do with her before they believed she would get carted off to solitary. Alastor’s eye twitched for a moment.

Degenerates, all of them… to see Cherri just as a woman they planned on taking advantage of just because she had nice hips and a voluptuous chest. The silent radio demon saw something very different… a wet blob of clay, she had been broken by this place… perhaps he could mould her into something useful. He could see a group of demons approaching and knew of their plans to take her to the showers to have their fun, Alastor moved over more quickly and he saw their faces pale as they quickly nudged the others to let them know that Alastor was approaching. Thank god his reputation gave him leeway, none of these ingrates wanted to risk being eaten in the night, idiots… but still, if they were fearful and he didn’t have to break the rules… perfect. 

His regular shadow blocked out the light and cast itself across her face as she clutched her trembling hands against it, she paused to turn and look up with a tear stained face and she screamed and tried to get up but stumbled back as the pain in her stomach made her fall over and she crawled away backwards frantically, she looked terrified of him and her lip had split open causing blood to drip down onto her clothes and across her pale neck. She scrambled as far back as she could before her back hit a wall and she had nowhere else to go. She did look pathetic, but Alastor needed pathetic… pathetic didn’t get too big for their boots, it didn’t give them false senses of grandeur. Cherri wiped at her face and she looked pleading up at his fixed smiling face. 

“Y-You’re the radio d-demon… please don’t… d-don’t take my s-soul…” Alastor blinked, confused… exactly what was being said about him on the outside? He didn’t deal in soul magic, as much as it pained it, was far beyond what his deals had given him. He shook his head, still smiling down and offered his hand out. She looked at it before staring back at him, she still had the shakes and she sniffed loudly.

“You w-want me to c-come with you?” He nodded once. And she stared around before reaching a hand out and allowing herself to stand. Alastor turned and led her towards the cells, lucky for him, some space had opened up in their cell and he was certain Arackniss wouldn’t mind if Cherri was a friend of her brothers. Taking her inside the cell Alastor intended to let her rest before trying to get her to understand what he wanted from her. He patted down on the bed as he faced away from her, Cherri glanced down at it before back up at Alastor.

“W-Will you look after me i-if I...” Alastor raised an eyebrow and then his cheeks flushed as he turned back to face Cherri seeing that she was starting to pull up her top. He spun back around to face away from her and waved his hands in a dismissive action, he hated not being able to talk. Of course, she thought that he was claiming her as some kind of prison bitch, the scariest monster in here taking someone weak to have fun with, and she was willing to do it for the protection. Alastor pinched the bridge of his nose. The others were going to do it, so why think differently of him. Cherri’s voice sounded out behind him.

“You don’t want to fuck me?” Alastor still didn’t turn to face her and shook his head.

“Oh, I thought… fuck…” there was a rustle of fabric and Alastor risked a peak and Cherri had rather hastily pulled her top back down and was just staring up at him as she sat down on the bed. 

“Y-You don’t talk?” Alastor shook his head, and Cherri looked confused.

“Radio demon is a bit of a shit nickname then isn’t it?” Alastor gave her a deadpan stare and Cherri looked sheepish.

“Sorry…” So she was going to be a mouthy one when she got her confidence, great another one who won’t shut up. Cherri looked like something cross her mind and she stared up at him. 

“Wait, why do you have that nickname?” Alastor folded his arms and stared at her, now how was he supposed to answer that without a ridiculous game of charades. She furrowed her brow.

“When did you die?” She looked like she had a trail of an idea and Alastor was curious enough so he played along sticking a single finger up, before nine and then three twice.

“Nineteen thirty-three? I wasn’t even born then, fuck…” Cherri hesitantly reached out and started taping on the metal bed frame. Alastor paused and then his grin split into an open-mouthed laugh, that sounded out silently as his shoulders shook with mirth

-.. --- / -.-- --- ..- / -.- -. --- .-- / -- --- .-. ... .

Before she knew what was happening Alastor had descended upon her and pulled her into a hug, she just made a tiny ‘eek’ and sat still as the infamous radio demon gave her a tight restrictive embrace. Alastor had never been more happy that an idea had paid off so spectacularly, he wouldn’t care if Cherri was useless in every other regard, she could understand Morse code and that was an absolute treasure, and Alastor would most certainly protect her. He nodded at her and smiled again he then tilted his head and looked at her. Of course Alastor knew it, all radio presenters at the time of his life were required to know it especially after the great war, but to meet someone else versed in it was a rare treat indeed especially since the older souls got rarer and rarer as the extermination caught them out, 

“Me? Dad was in the military… so he forced me to learn a bunch of military crap…” Alastor reached up and tapped out a pattern.

.. -- / --. .-.. .- -.. / .... . / -.. .. -..

Cherri smiled,

“Well I’m sure he’s fuckin’ loving that his daughter got in and out of prison a few times to end up in hell, and then the fuckin’ prison in hell.” She let out a harsh sigh and looked down. Alastor reached out and tilted her head towards him and gave her a softer smile than his usual facade carried.

“So you want me around to translate for you?” He nodded. “I can do that… better than being your bunk bitch, although you are kinda hot…” Alastor furrowed his brow, he was starting to understand what Arackniss meant with ‘she was trouble’ Seems once the fear that her soul was no longer in jeopardy was gone Cherri was quite content to make casual remarks to someone who needed her. Alastor didn’t care, she would be useful and as long as she actually did what he asked, she could have all the fun she wanted, results mattered, the means to those results… not so much. He also wondered how quickly she could recover considering less than ten minutes ago she had been sobbing uncontrollably, maybe it was shock but time would tell.

***

Time did indeed tell, Alastor was staring up at the ceiling of the cell again, another night of sleepless staring, although to be completely fair he far preferred this to the rampant sex the other two were having the previous night and he didn’t feel compelled to do anything violent. Cherri at least was just crying… crying didn’t bother him as much, and she probably needed to get it out of her system for a few days as the reality of her new environment sunk in. 

Alastor needed her coherent, far more than he would let her know. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -.. --- / -.-- --- ..- / -.- -. --- .-- / -- --- .-. ... . : Do you know Morse
> 
> .. -- / --. .-.. .- -.. / .... . / -.. .. -.. : Im glad he did.


	5. Two Dates, and the Taste of Success.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Husk attempts to enjoy his day off, Charlie attempts to get a date. Alastor succeeds in getting things to go his way.

Husk groaned as he sat up in bed, and ran claws over the fur on his face. He hated sleep, well more specifically he hated that he couldn’t drink when he was asleep. There was already the dull throb in his skull and his hands would shake if he concentrated on them. He shuffled across and grabbed the bottle of scotch on his night stand, he took a long swig and sighed, that was better. Swinging his legs out he stumbled up and left his bed unmade as he made his way to the bathroom. 

“You look like shit…” He spoke to his reflection, noticing how no matter how much he slept he always had bags under his eyes. He looked how he felt ninety-nine percent fo the time… Grumpy. Husk splashed some water on his face, no need to get dressed he had so much fur that he didn’t even own any real clothes, I mean sure he had a few jackets but what was the point? Still, he felt in a sense, naked without the bow-tie and his top hat so he got those on before taking one last look at his bedroom and moving on, there were scattered empty bottles and his bed was a rough and messy nest of blankets. He didn’t care, it's not like he was out to impress anyone. 

Opening his fridge he looked at its meagre contents, a jar of pickled onions a few beers and some gone off butter. He closed the fridge door again. He didn't know why he even bothered to look, well with nothing else to do he slouched his way over to the exit and left his messy apartment. It was a short walk to work from here, it was ideal really but the main reason he liked its location was the proximity to his favourite dive bar. A real dingy place that got very few souls come through. It was pretty much his spirit animal. Even though he was a regular and was here almost daily the owner and other patrons still didn't talk to him and Husk loved it, they were all as miserable as him. 

Sat on a bar stool he casually drank a beer whilst watching the muted TV on the wall. The subtitled news was on, some piece about a new and prosperous time in hell. Whatever, Husk rolled his eyes at it, it was just a fluff bit that the news stations threw out now and then to stroke Lucifer’s ego. Katie Killjoy stared daggers at Tom Trench before stabbing her pen through his hand, clearly the man did something to piss her off, but it wasn’t caught on the subtitles. Quite a few rumours were floating around about little miss Katie. The word on the street was that Katie was sleeping with Lucifer, did it when they managed to get an actual video interview with the illusive Lord of hell. Now she was some kind of unofficial mistress. Pfft, Husk couldn’t understand it, and it was hardly talked about… Katie would say nothing but praises about hells ruler, and for a mean spirited bitch like Katie, that might as well be a confession that  _ something  _ was going on. 

Who knew what the actual truth was and how far up it went, did Lilith even know? Surely something would have come out if she did. Husk looked away from the TV, now bored. Reaching down he lifted the beer glass to his lips and almost spat it back out when he heard an unbelievably chipper voice shout out to him.

“HUSK! Oh my gosh! What are the chances!” Every single occupant of the bar stared at the winged cat as he hit his head against the bar top. The fuck was Niffty even doing in a place like this. She had hurried over from the entrance and hopped up onto the bar stool next to Husk. He didn’t lift his head and spoke against the wood.

“The fuck are you doing here?” Niffty grinned at him.

“Well, I just finished my shift and thought I’d have a wander around… see what’s nearby…” She half trailed off her answer and looked slightly uncomfortable. She waved enthusiastically at the owner and bartender, a large dark skinned creature that look similar to a beetle on its back legs, broad chest and dark beady eyes. 

“Can I have a raspberry mojito?” His face fell into a scowl.

“This ain’t a cocktail bar…” Nifty’s face fell and then immediately picked back up.

“How about a white wine spritzer?” She got a death stare but he shuffled off before pulling a very dusty wine bottle out and got about making Niffty’s drink. Husk picked up his face from the bar top to take another drink of beer and stared at her. 

“I mean here… why the fuck did you come in here? This ain’t a place suited for you.” She was roughly handed her drink and she paid before turning back to Husk, a blush had spread across both her tiny cheeks. 

“I know, but I thought that you might like it, so I checked it out…” Husk blinked and groaned.

“Why the fuck did you do that?” Niffty fidgeted and looked down at her legs unable to meet the cats gaze. 

“I w-was going to ask if you wanted to get a drink here one time…” Here we go again, another attempt at Niffty asking for a date. 

“I thought I fucking told you the first time, I don’t want to go out for a drink with you…” Niffty looked downcast.

“I-I just thought, that with us talking more at work, we could have a drink as work friends?” Husk raised his eyebrow at her.

“That’s all you want… just to be friends?” She looked up at him and her hands we clenched in her lap.

“N-No…” she spoke out softly. 

“Then that’s my answer, no.” Niffty blinked and then slid herself of the stool.

“Sorry to have bothered you on your day off…” She left quickly without a backwards glance, leaving her drink untouched. Husk grumbled and pulled the drink towards himself, not to his taste but booze was booze, especially if it had already been paid for. He took a drink, the wine tasted like vinegar but that didn’t stop him.

Niffty had not so subtly been trying to ask him out for about a year now. It had all started when Husk, working his night shift had spotted that an inmate had failed to turn up at curfew and was attempting to hide in the shower block that Niffty had moved into to start cleaning, a struggle had ensued to stop her from trying to raise the alarm. Husk had alerted the guards in the area and they had wrestled the creature to the ground before anything had happened. He was thanked by Vaggie because of his quick response and Niffty had practically thrown herself at him sobbing. She never said what the inmate had planned to do with her but Husk had a pretty good idea and so too did Vaggie, she handled his transfer to solitary personally and no one had seen the silver haired woman for that entire day until she returned in the evening with very bruised and damaged knuckles. Vaggie was protective it was her best trait, and also single-handedly her worst one… she was too protective and it made her irrational at times. Charlie had given her a dressing down when she had inspected what Vaggie had called ‘delivering justice’ to the would-be rapist. Solitary should have been enough but Vaggie just had to take it that one step further. 

Niffty had called Husk her guardian angel and had showered him with tokens of affection and gratitude, ever since then she seemed infatuated with him, if Husk even had a little life in his lifeless heart, he would have felt flattered. As it stood he was far too nihilistic about the whole thing. He knew her type, freakishly upbeat and positive and they see a down in the dumps grump like him and make it a mission to try and ‘cheer him up’ or ‘change him’. Except this was just how he was, his life wasn’t terrible or perfect… just the middle line of average and he didn’t care for change to be forced to try to change. So he cut out the chase and just rejected her straight away, but she was nothing if not persistent. Regardless he had come to slightly enjoy her company and a small part of him realized that after their inevitable break up because Husk couldn’t change, it means she probably wouldn’t want to see him any more at work.

An even smaller, even tinier part of him had a far more anxious fear. One that he didn’t ever think about or want to think about. Niffty was a fun little demon, cute as a button, who made friends with everyone in the office, she seemed active and driven, and Husk just… wasn’t. He was boring and so very tired, and if Niffty started spending more time with him maybe she would see it too.

He wasn’t worth her attention.

***

Charlie slammed the door to her apartment as she stormed back inside, she practically launched her heels off her feet and they clattered against the wall as she kicked off her footwear. Tonight had not gone well, She stomped barefooted over to her kitchen and pulled out a fresh bottle of wine before pouring herself a very large glass and taking it straight to the sofa and sitting down.

“Fuck this…” She got her phone out and deleted the dating app, she was wearing a nice long flowing dress, nothing revealing but it certainly made her look elegant. She had managed to get a date, well at least she thought she had, after wading through what was an endless barrage of pictures of dicks. Like seriously? She even mentioned in her bio she wanted a relationship so why the fuck did people think it was okay to say photo’s of their junk? What? Was she supposed to go ‘wow I bet that cock has a nice personality attached?’ It made her angry, and very frustrated. But finally she had a match, great… he wrote his messages eloquently and even attempted some light humour, it fell flat but at this point Charlie was willing to give him a chance, so they agreed to meet up for a dinner date. 

Sir Pentious was a chauvinistic pig… snake. It had started off nicely enough, he opened the door for her, pulled out her seat as she sat down. Charlie thought that he was being maybe a bit overly gentlymenly but she was nervous about the whole thing too, so was willing to let it slide. Then it all started coming out of the woodwork, he ordered for her… said she would enjoy it. Well the drink was too bitter and she didn’t like lamb so pretty much just ate the vegetables and sides, so that was a disaster. Then he wouldn’t stop talking about himself, how great he was, how his invention would change the face of hell and how she, Charlie was ever so lucky to spend time with him. 

She had soured out throughout the evening but it finally snapped when he had dared to suggest that she should work harder to try to make a good first impression. In hindsight, she was actually quite glad she didn’t like the drink she was given, she had more to throw in his face when she stormed out. 

“I just want someone who listens? Is that so bad…” Were there any good men in hell? Well no, they were in hell. But were there any men in hell that Charlie could date? By the looks of it also probably no. Swallowing a large mouthful of wine, she sniggered too herself as it gave her a small amount of head rush.

“If only they couldn’t talk… that’d be nice, kinda like Alastor…” She paused and then giggled at herself. What a silly idea that was, but it still left a warm afterthought deep in her stomach. He was very handsome, she couldn’t deny that, tall and with those intense eyes that you could get lost in, the way he had intensely stared at her the first time she saw them. She chewed on her lip as a shiver ran up the length of her spine. She shook her head and let out a long breath, it was a shame. Her silly little crush aside, next month the review of inmate behaviour would start, and she would be making the decision on whether to let Alastor near the kitchen, she had rather sneakily pulled his case file out of the main system and put it somewhere else, Vaggie would normally be handling this sort of paperwork but something told Charlie that she would hardly be fair and considerate to the radio demon so had taken it upon herself to review the file herself so she could at least believe that it was impartial, he had been cordial enough to have earned that at least. 

She had blinked and before she knew she was another whole bottle of wine down and staggering to bed, slipping off her dress she rather haphazardly placed it in the laundry hamper before moving straight over and opening the bottom draw of her bedside table, she pulled out a small bottle of lube and her faithful companion, she might not have been much in the way of relationships but her vibrator certainly had been there for here. She squeezed a small pea sized amount of lube and spread it over the tip before clicking the button at the base and the sound of low buzzing filled the room as Charlie settled herself comfortably down, and began to play.

***

Cherri stuck to Alastor like a puppy would its mother, she had clearly developed a dependency to be around him, to make herself feel safe in the prison, especially when any guards were around. It had gotten to the point that if Alastor was to turn around suddenly you could almost guarantee Cherri would walk straight into him as she followed behind, and the times when she didn’t follow him, such as when he showered or went to the toilet she would shrink away into a corner and make herself as small as possible. It was clear she was afraid, and Alastor couldn’t easily deal with it, a scared person could become flighty and he needed to know he could rely on Cherri. Her crying at night hadn’t stopped either although now most nights it was just quiet sobbing, at least she didn’t wail like a mourning widow. Alastor still couldn’t sleep but when did he ever really need it, it was more like a luxury at this point. 

“Hey Cherri?” Alastor blinked it looked like Arackniss was still awake in his bunk underneath Alastor. There was a sniff.

“Y-Yeah?” 

“Did you see Angel recently? Before you were arrested…” There was a long pause.

“Yeah, we went partyin’ together a few nights before…” Arackniss breathed rather harshly out of his mouth.

“How’s he… er, how’s he doin?” 

“Partyin’ like Angel Dust… same old, same old.” 

“Ah, okay… hope he’s well.” Cherri let out her sigh and you could almost hear her lip tremble.

“I-I’m gunna miss him…” 

“Me too…” It fell quiet again and you could her Arackniss roll over, probably onto his side and shuffled around getting into a comfy spot, Cherri quivered in place before pulling up the tiny thin sheet they all had for bedding and covered her face with it, and Alastor… well Alastor just lay there staring at the concrete ceiling, planning carefully how he would do this.

The days started to meld together, but Alastor hadn’t had any altercations, he kept his head down and stuck by himself for as often as he could, well him and Cherri anyway. It was nice to be able to talk to someone, even if she was uncouth. Suddenly they were joined by guards and you could see Cherri visibly shrinking in her seat.

“You’re comin’ with us, Radio dickhead.” Alastor frowned at the nickname but still smiled as he felt two pairs of rough hand grab him either side and start pulling him away from the bench he was sat down at, and to his immense surprise Cherri had suddenly jumped out of seat and made a motion as if she was going to leap at the guards to try to get them off him. It was precious, in a way… and really, really stupid in a lot of other ways. Alastor tried to wave at her as he allowed himself to be dragged up but she didn’t seem to be paying attention until a black spider had grabbed hold of Cherri to stop her going any closer.

“There a problem?” Arackniss shook his head.

“Not one, don’t worry about her…” He gripped onto Cherri tightly as she struggled as she looked panicked as Alastor was dragged off and the entrance gate shut. She yanked herself free and turned on him.

“What the fuck was that about!?” Arackniss stared in disbelief.

“You were about to jump the fuckin’ guards! You should be thankin’ me!” 

“They were taking Alastor! They  **did** take Alastor!” The spider rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, an’ he wasn’t fuckin’ fightin’ was he? All you’d do is end up in solitary if you keep this shit up!” Cherri had already stormed off not wanting to hear it and just sat down on her bed, folding her arms across her chest and staring darkly at Arackniss’s bunk. He was right, but still the sight of Alastor being taken away just got to her. He was going to be fine… right? 

Alastor was being dragged off down a new set of corridors before finally being dragged into a brightly lit plain room with a metal desk and two metal chairs opposite it, rough hands pushed him down and another set of manacles tied his feet to the chair legs, which was mounted to the floor. Oh great, another set of bindings, well he wasn’t exactly going to be attempting to run off now, was he. The two guards left and the door was closed loudly leaving him alone in the room, there was a wall length mirror on one side, well that was clearly a one way window. So what was this, some kind of interrogation chamber? Was he looking forward to being tortured for whatever they wanted to get out of him. He would have started humming to pass the time but, a silent hum just wasn't very satisfying. Instead, he drummed his fingers against the table and waited as the minutes ticked by. 

The door opened and Charlie walked in with a clipboard and a few things attached to it, she glanced at Alastor and smiled and he softened his smile to seem more natural.

“Hello Alastor, are you well?” Alastor nodded as Charlie sat opposite him.

“Today, we’re going to be evaluating your performance. Making sure everything is where it should be, don’t be nervous it’s all rather standard.” She gave him another smile and flipped over a few pages. It’s not like Alastor had anything to be nervous about.

“But since you don’t talk I got you this for when I need to ask you some more complicated questions.” She slid towards him a few sheets of paper and a pencil. Alastor eyed the pencil for a few moments before reaching up and clutching it. It was a cheap lead pencil but at least communication was a bit easier. 

She pulled out her own pen and started filling out some details of the form, her eyes would dart up to his now and then as she wrote things down. 

“So considering our last little talk, I’ve seen that you haven’t been obstructing our cameras and also you haven’t been getting up to much with your cell mates, that’s wonderful Alastor. Well done!” He nodded and smiled at her, staring into her soft yellow eyes. She blinked and seemed to lose her train of thought.

“Er, anyway… you’ve also not been getting into any other conflicts, and I even heard that you helped one of your newest additions to acclimatize a little easier.” Alastor nodded, so they were watching his interactions with Cherri. 

“You know I like this? I hardly have any bad behaviours to go over, the only real point is you seem to scare a lot of the others but you’re hardly doing anything, it seems like your reputation is carrying more weight than your actions are right now.” Alastor paused and then wrote something down before sliding the paper towards her.

**Are you scared of me?**

Charlie looked at it and frowned before staring back up at his face and his very inquisitive eyes, she shook her head.

“No, you’re not causing any trouble… Lucifer made sure you couldn’t do magic. Why, do you want me to be afraid?” Alastor shook his head hurriedly, he wasn’t after some fear tactic with the princess that would probably only rankle her. Another thought popped into Alastor’s head and he tore one of the pieces of paper in half and started to draw idly as Charlie spoke, occasionally glancing down at what he was doing but unable to see with the way he had positioned his arm, it caused her to smile at the strange antics.

“Anyway, so with all this in mind, I’ve decided to give you access to the kitchen if you would like to cook some meals, for your fellows.” Alastor paused and looked up and nodded quiet encouraged.

“Now normally you have to be here for a few months for this sort of thing, but I got a good feeling you know how things work, you can’t steal from the kitchen you know you get searched right?” Alastor nodded. 

“Okay, so what I’m suggesting is we put you on a week trial, see how you do and then have another meeting just to review to see if you’ve settled into the kitchen duties, I think that sounds fa-” Alastor had slid the torn up drawing towards Charlie and she took it, it was an incredibly detailed headshot of the princess smiling eyes closed and what looks like butterflies around her head, How was Alastor able to draw something so incredible in just a couple of minutes? There was a long pause.

“I, err… t-thank you, Alastor.” The red circles on her cheeks seemed to be growing as the rest of her face began to flush Alastor could see her eyes dart towards the mirror in the room before she coughed loudly and clipped the drawing onto her clipboard. 

“I think that’s about it then, can I have the pencil back? We need to get you back.” Alastor glanced at the thing in his hand before writing down.

**Can I keep it? For another drawing?**

Charlie paused, and seemed to be mulling it over in her head, she spoke out and it was a little more breathy than normal.

“Okay, but only because you’ve been so good with our rules… don’t make me regret it, or you’ll find yourself locked down, understand?” He nodded and smiled clutching the pencil, another quick message.

**What would you like me to draw?**

“Err, I don’t know, you’re really good, so anything you like.” Alastor’s grin seemed to magnify as he hastily wrote down his response.

**How about another picture of a gorgeous woman?**

Charlie let out a tiny snorting laugh as she went fully red in the face and she quickly made for the door. She didn’t turn to look at him when she opened the door.

“Speak to you in a week Alastor.” The door closed and Alastor was alone again, well not quite alone, whoever was behind the mirror would still be watching, he carefully pocketed the pencil and folded up the remaining blank paper before pocketing that too. Well at least he had something to do in his endless free time now, plus he would get another picture of Charlie done, to give to her next week. But most importantly and most excitably… he was going to get inside the kitchen.

Now stuff could start to happen. 


	6. She's Gone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Angel has a bit of a reflection and has a date with someone very important, Husk tries to be less Husk-y

**_Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzt_ **

“F-fuck…” Charlie’s eyes were shut as she rolled her head around the pillow, she had been pent-up all day, and needed this release as soon as she got home. Her breath caught in her throat as her imagination ran wild.

“O-Oh, Al… f-fuck…” Was it wrong that this fantasy was so exciting? To feel Alastor’s eyes wash over her as she undressed for him, to feel his hands all over her body as she sat on his lap, To feel his member, achingly hot push its way inside her awaiting entrance. Charlie whole body seemed to buckle up as she came, eyes snapping open and gasping, withdrawing her Vibrator she turned it off and just let it drop onto the bed as she closed her eyes with a content sigh and enjoyed the warm afterglow of her post-orgasm feeling. 

It was a fantasy, a silly crush. Charlie wasn’t going to actually do anything with the radio demon, Alastor was in her facility because of crimes against her father and his associates, he was apparently a ‘monster’ although she didn’t quite believe that to truly be the case. Just because he was handsome, kind of tall… with those amazing eyes that made her heart flutter, eyes she could stare into for an entire day. Or that he was apparently a good listener and seemingly paid attention to Charlie, his smile, not the one he wore all the time but the one just for Charlie… the softer one that made her stomach do flips. The fact that he could draw and apparently had the heart of an artist and gave Charlie a drawing of herself that she loved so much she had magnetized it to her fridge and it made her smile every time she went for something in it. None of that mattered, because he was a prisoner… and she was the person in charge. 

She let out a long slow exhale and rolled over, sure she could get her sexual needs filled by the toy that was somewhere by her side, but what she wanted the most, was a partner she could cuddle with. Charlie was a snuggler, and it really bothered her that after intimacy she couldn’t just cuddle, the bed always seemed a vast wasteland of emptiness and was far too cold for her liking. She had even considered buying a body pillow that she could stuff a couple of hot water bottles into, but had thought that could have become a slippery slope of loneliness and desperation and had resisted. 

She sat up and stretched before grabbing her toy and padding her way over to her bathroom to wash it off and also get a warm wet flannel between her legs to clean herself up too. With that done she got fully dressed again, it was going to be a long night, she had put out an order for the sweeper teams to keep an eye out for a certain individual, she frowned though, her surveillance on Angel had come up poorly for what she had hoped. He seemed more jittery than usual but no less sinful, nothing was being learned and it frustrated Charlie.

***

He never had to force smiles so hard in his entire career, Angel was working tonight, trying to pick up some John’s, not because he wanted to, but because Valentino had told him to. He was walking down the street heading towards the club he was going to try his luck at, he was dressed for the occasion but he certainly didn’t feel like it. A large truck containing Lucifer’s enforces drove past quickly and Angel stared at it for a moment until he brought his eyes back to the pavement he was tapping his heeled boots across.

Cherri was gone… he couldn’t even describe how much that had hurt him, sure they fought all the time, shouted and insulted one another, but he had her back and she had his, they were friends… best friends. He had taken a day off to cry for her, it had earned him a beating from Valentino, but he wouldn’t have done anything different, Cherri deserved that much at least. It had been on the news, that had got his attention, a mug shot of her, half screaming and being beaten. They always pick the worst photos trying to make the person look more pathetic, Cherri wasn’t pathetic, she had been amazing. He felt guilty too, not that it was his fault, neither of them knew but he had been there. He was there when Cherri ran out of luck.

_ The noise was loud as the heavy bass almost shook the floors and walls, strobe lighting pierced and flashed across the dance floor and Angel was high as a fucking kite, he had hold of Cherri’s hips and they were grinding together to the beat of the music, Cherri loved to dance and Angel could be as provocative as he liked and it didn’t bother her, it helped him attract clients, when they could see how he moved. Hands in the air they jumped in place as the bass dropped and the dance music started. It was a riot, and they were both having so much fun, Cherri was grinning from ear to ear.  _

_ That’s when he met his John, a down in the dump fellow who looked about ready to swallow a twelve gauge right in the back of the throat. Angel had bought him a drink and took him back to where Cherri was, a single drink is all it took Angel to get this guy to pay for an all night session with him, an affordable expense. Turns out he was so miserable because he had been fired and wanted to forget everything for a bit, perfect for Angel. He was part of a factory that dealt in networking hardware. That had got Cherri’s attention, apparently the owner was in a business war with Vox, which was stupid… Vox never lost, that Overlord had far too many close ties with Lucifer. So all of his assets were being liquidated and abandoned.  _

_ Cherri always up for a quick cash grab had asked for the location, she wasn’t about to turn down an opportunity to make some cash off of the back of a failing asshole. So off she went, to go loot. _

But it was too late, they didn’t know but the complete takeover had already happened, so when Cherri had broken in, it wasn’t some two-bit failure she was robbing, but one of the most influential Overlords new acquisitions, her arrest happened within the hour and Angel found out about it the next day after getting back from his overnight stay with the guy. The last time he saw her was that smiling face turning away from him.

_ “Watch ya back bitch, can’t afford to get any more scars, your tits can’t keep you pretty forever.” _

_ “Least my tits are something you can grab, not that hot bed of air you got goin’ on slut!”  _

That was it… gone. He had to stop and quickly steadied his breathing, this wasn’t going to help him tonight, he needed to get Valentino some cash, and he wouldn't be able to do that if his mascara was halfway down his face before he even got into the venue. Another enforcer truck drove past and Angel glanced at it, wondering if it was the same one as before? But he hadn’t really been paying attention, he wasn’t that paranoid. He got to the club just as the lines outside started to form, that was good a full house meant lots of potential jobs. First things first, get a drink in hand and then look available and ready to party. 

“Excuse me? Oh, wow! You really are Angel Dust!” A quiet voice called out to him and Angel turned his head to see a smiling pale faced blonde approaching him. That was Princess Charlotte, why the hell was she approaching Angel? Angel blinked and then smiled, a little haphazardly.

“The one an’ only, erm your highness,” he tried to give a bow, unsure of what really to do here, these upper class lot do love their formalities. She smiled at him softly and tucked a few locks of her hair behind an ear.

  
“Just call me Charlie, I wanted to say… I’m a big fan of your work.” Angel almost spat out his drink, the princess of hell was complimenting his porn work! Princess Charlotte was certainly a quiet public figure, but not complete locked away, always in the background behind Lucifer, she was apparently running the prison but it was clear to anyone that Lucifer was really pulling the strings and his daughter was just some mouthpiece. 

“Well, thanks Charlie… What can I say, I’m the best…” He puffed out his chest in vainglorious pride. Charlie smile seemed to twitch slightly.

“I especially love, the way you work with both men  _ and women. _ ” Angel stared at her, was he about to get a royal client? He would say he was surprised but at this point it pretty much ran in the family, what with those Katie Killjoy rumours and all, he hadn’t seen anything about it but Angel knew the look of someone who was scoring way above their belt, and that was Katie. Angel would bet every penny he owned that she was getting it from Lucifer. 

Maybe tonight wouldn’t be a bust after all, Angel turned to face Charlie properly and gave her a flashy smile.

“Can I get ya a drink Charlie?” 

***

“Welcome to the Happy Hotel.” 

Angel screamed, struggling against the chair he was strapped to, he didn’t know where he was or who was doing this to him, all he knew was that a cable was pumping something into his arm and it made his insides burn. How did he even get here? He was in a club talking to… was he talking to a client? Or someone else? His head was fuzzy and he couldn’t remember. He struggled as hard as he could but he was stuck and tears were forming in the corner of his eyes.

“Angel I thought we were going to work on your vices…” The female voice sounded disappointed, she was standing behind him was pacing back and forth, no matter how hard he turned his head he still couldn’t see anything. 

“WHO THE FUCK ARE YA?” It felt like his arms were dying, his veins were constricting with whatever this stuff was and the fire was spreading and it hurt so fucking much. 

“Doesn’t matter Angel Dust… what does matter is how am I going to help you understand that you shouldn’t sin any more?”

“THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKIN’ ABOUT? WE’RE IN FUCKIN’ HELL!” There was a gentle whisper and it made Angel want to be sick.

“But I want to help you Angel, I really do…” 

“Just fuckin’ let me go, please!” 

“I will not sin, say it.” 

“W-What?” He sounded desperate, everything was hurting… oh god, why did everything have to hurt this much.

“I will not sin, and I can make all the pain go away.” He weakly attempted to nod,

“I w-will not sin…” There was a click and whatever was being pumped into him stopped and was replaced by a cooling sensation that seemed to make everything go numb.

“Remember, if you don’t sin… all your pain can just float… away.” The woman's voice was getting distant too, and Angel’s head lolled to one side as he was knocked out. Charlie straightened up and frowned, she had to let the current course of drugs get pumped through him before she could move him, so she walked over to where her journal was and started taking notes.

**Review of last session indicates no change in Angel, clearly scaring him into wanting to get better isn't working, attempting instead positive reinforcement away from sinning. Give this a few weeks, not too hopeful.**

What with the  sanitarium  they had a whole lab dedicated to creating all sorts of anaesthetics and muscle relaxants. Plus a few more unsavoury things, to help loosen lips if they knew something or were part of a gang ring that Lucifer wanted to take down. Charlie sighed and rubbed a hand over her face, this constant failure was starting to get tiring. If she didn’t get any results soon, she would consider whether rehabilitation was even possible. She didn’t particularly enjoy doing this to Angel either, same with she didn’t really enjoy having to keep souls locked up and ready to be exterminated once a year. But it was necessary, just like Angel Dust was necessary if she wanted to try to help him. It had not escaped her notice the strange irony of the situation, if redemption wasn’t possible it just meant she had been torturing Angel for nothing and she deserved to be locked up too, well at least she would if she was torturing anyone from the ‘upper circles’ as they say. The division of class was a mile wide and Lucifer kept it that way. He didn’t care what the lower class of hells denizens did to each other, but one foot into an Overlords business and you were shipped straight off to Charlie, it ruffled her feathers. It was unfair, although the souls who were sent to her, did deserve it, but still!

There was a beep and the machine finished, Charlie moved over and pulled the cabling out of Angels arm, leaving behind a faint mark. Remembering something, she pulled out a large amount of cash notes and stuffed them inside Angel’s jacket pocket before moving to the door and opening where guards were waiting.

“Take him back to his place and make sure he’s on the bed. We’re done.” 

“Yes Princess Charlotte.” The pair of large red demons moved past her and started to unfasten Angel’s restraints and hauled him away. What was the time? Charlie checked her phone and groaned, four AM. There was no point heading home so she marched through the silent administration block, she passed the open security office and poked her head in, Husk was drinking from a coffee cup and staring at the monitors as they refreshed once more. Charlie didn’t say anything and moved on. She didn’t know how he could do it, she would get bored out of her mind in that sort of job but Husk could just get on with it. Charlie had always been worried about the night-time security and if they slept on the job or not, but Husk had never warranted that kind of scrutiny, he was always alert, just not always sober. 

Opening her office door she closed it and locked it behind herself and turning off the light in the room. Propping herself on her desk chair and taking her jacket off, Charlie folded it up into and bundle and used it as a pillow on her desk as she leant forward and rested on it. An idea flashed into her head and with one hand she booted her work computer up and then winced at the blinding white screen, she hastily mashed the buttons on the monitor to lower the light and her eyes settled against the gloomy screen, she shifted around as she half dragged a hand over the mouse, as the director her work station connected to everything, so she loaded up the security feed and quickly found the camera she wanted. Alastor was just staring up at the ceiling, he wasn’t sleeping either, Charlie wondered if he was restless, she sighed softly as she stared at those red eyes, even through a camera they were still strikingly gorgeous. She was struggling to keep her own eyes open and soon they drifted closed, and she fell into a light sleep.

***

Husk’s shift was over his, daytime replacement had arrived a few minutes early so it gave Husk a chance to piss, before signing out and heading off. When he left he gathered his coffee cup and went to wash it in the staff kitchen, pouring hot water into the thing he used a small amount of dish soap and scrubbed at the dark stains that hugged the bottom of the mug. Grumbling that he let it get so bad, he scrubbed as hard as he could. There was a tiny gasp and a scurrying sound behind him and he let out a deep low sigh. He glanced back and sure enough he could see the tips of red hair just round the corner. It had been quite some time since he had seen her last, in fact now that he thought about it, the last time he did see her would have been at that bar, He hadn’t paid much mind to it, they didn’t always cross paths but Niffty usually popped in at some point. Maybe he had finally scared her off and she was chasing after some other poor fool. 

“You can come in the fuckin’ kitchen I ain't gonna attack you.” There were quiet footsteps and Niffty moved into the kitchen. Husk didn’t bother turning around although the silence was starting to bother him, which was strange because whenever Niffty would talk he sorely wished she wasn’t, but now that she was silent it felt almost unnatural, he chose to break the silence first.

“Why you in so early anyway? Normally don’t see you around this time.” Or at all, recently. Niffty spoke out quietly.

“Took, an extra shift so I could deep-clean the kitchen today, normally no one uses it this early…” 

“Well I’m almost done then it’s all yours.”

“Ok.” She sounded flat, it niggled at him and Husk found himself naturally turning around and holy hell he wished hadn’t. Niffty looked about as happy as a drowning sloth thrown in a washing machine and launched from a trebuchet. Even Husk was surprised, and he was the self-titled king of the resting bitch face. He blinked as he stared at her and she wouldn’t make eye contact and was just looking down at the floor.

“You, err… you alright?”

“Uh-huh.” She nodded, well that was a fucking lie. Husk grabbed the small dish towel and started to dry out his mug, and something flared up inside him that he wasn’t really used to, a feeling of guilt.

“T-This have anything to do with us at the bar?” 

“N-No…” her face had started to crumple and her lip was trembling, it looked like she was about to start crying, Husk wasn’t emotionally ready to deal with this sort of shit, he barely felt emotions as it stood, but to help someone else? A huge internal conflict started inside Husk’s barely sober head, as he tried to figure out what he wanted to do.

_ Fuck… _

“Hey, listen Niffty… if it means that much to you, I suppose I could let you buy me a drink…” She shook her head and now she actually was crying, well that didn’t help, did it.

“I-It’s j-just b-because you f-feel sorry f-for me!” She wailed, Husk knew better than to tell the truth.

“Nah, it ain’t that, let’s just say you’ve finally paid me back for saving you?” I mean, he did pity her and that’s why he  **was** doing it but the lie sounded sort of believable, Niffty sniffed and looked up at him with her huge yellow and red eye, there was a glimmer of hope there.

“R-Really? You mean it?” Husk clenched his jaw for a fraction of a second.

“Yeah…” Niffty smiled at him, and it was so honest and open it made Husk think about smiling back, I mean he didn’t. He hadn’t smiled in decades and the attempt would probably cause the muscles in his face to cramp. Niffty nodded.

“Okay, so maybe I’ll come talk to you tonight about what we want to do?” She had that happy-go-lucky energy back and Husk sighed as he put the dish towel away.

“Sure, Niffty… sure.” He left her to it as she frantically started pulling cleaning materials out of the under the sink cupboards and she had started to sing to herself, smiling the whole time. Husk went to put his cup back in his little cubbyhole. He didn’t think it would have been, but it was an easy decision to make. If Niffty went on a few dates with him, she would lose interest after finding out exactly who he was and that would be it, compare that to her being miserable every time she saw him, Husk knew which one he would prefer. 

A disinterested Niffty is better than an unhappy one, and Husk could live with that. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm very much looking forward to the next chapter I have planned.
> 
> Day one of Alastor in the kitchen... and his plan starts happening.
> 
> Cherri Bomb starts her acting career with a performance that causes Alastor to wish he was dead. 
> 
> It's going to be very funny :D


	7. Who Wants Some Jambalaya?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alastor gets to see the kitchen, Cherri gets to deeply, deeply concern him. Then his plan starts working.

It was the morning that he was looking forward to when Alastor slid out of bed, another sleepless nights but its not like exhaustion could kill you in hell, there was a klaxon sounding and the cell doors all slid open as creatures emerged groggily from their sleep. Cherri was already up as well, she wasn’t particularly a morning person but she liked to shower when Alastor was around, it made her feel safe and if that meant early rises, then so be it. 

It was washing day, so Alastor undressed quickly and wrapped around his body with a towel that he had collected at the entrance to the shower/washer area. He loaded his and Cherri’s clothes into one of the washing and drying units and set it going. It dispensed the cleaning agents automatically and started spinning away. With both of them toweled up they moved over the showers, just as other inmates had started to do the same thing.

It was a communal shower block, but there were raised walls just about chest height giving each shower a cubicle of sorts, Alastor always went into the furthest corner and Cherri took the one next to him. 

“Ya think no one else comes here cos they reckon you’re gunna eat them?” Alastor shrugged, but Cherri did have a point no one wanted to be naked anywhere near the radio demon, and he was just fine with that, let them feel all vulnerable around him. It gave privacy for him and Cherri, and despite her rather crude way of doing things, he had got rather attached to her, and didn’t like the idea of her being alone, especially with what the other inmates had planned when she first arrived. 

“Fuck… the soap dispenser’s empty, Al you got some spare?” Alastor pressed his hand on the wall mounted soap dispenser a few more times before turning in place to see Cherri’s face smiling at him. 

“You er, gunna rub me down with it too?” Alastor tilted his head and looked unimpressed. Cherri laughed and stuck her hand over the small wall.

“I’m kiddin’, I’m kiddin!” Alastor wiped the soap onto her hand and she withdrew it before lathering up her body with it.

“Although…” Alastor gave her another cold stare and she laughed.

Once they were washed and dried. They sat and waited for their clothes to finish. Cherri made idle conversation, she tried to use a lot of yes/no questions to save him having to tap out a Morse reply, it took a while to translate and was always a little cumbersome.

“So you got a sweetheart on the outside of this place?” Alastor shook his head and pointed and Cherri and looked questioning.

“Me?” Nah, the closest babe I had was Angel…” She looked sad for a moment and then shook her head.

“But, he’s gunna do fine without me around, just means he won’t get into as much trouble is all” She laughed it off, but Alastor looked at her, it was a fake laugh.

“Anyway, anyone in here got your eye? Can’t imagine a girl could say no if the radio demon wanted a piece… worked on me didn’t it?” Alastor rolled his eyes, but no, there was no one in this cesspit that he was interested in, sure he was fascinated by Charlie and their flirting was fun, but he was still half convinced that she was just trying to get him to slip up somewhere. She was Lucifer’s daughter after all and his prejudice against Alastor was almost laughable. 

There was a ding as the clothes were done and Cherri quickly disrobed and grabbed at her clean and dried clothes. Alastor looked away quickly as she bent down to retrieve them, that girl loved to be naked around him and it just made him awkward. Considering the shit eating grin on her face she knew it.

“Come on you old bastard, who doesn’t want to stare at a girls twat that was born 50 years after he died…” He didn’t want to give a response to that question and simply turned his whole body to face away from her. There was a gentle punch to his arm and he risked a glance, at least she was dressed and looked very smug about it too. 

“Suit yourself but you know I’m gunna watch you.” she sat down and stared at him. Alastor sighed and attempted as quickly as possible to get dressed amidst Cherri’s wolf whistles. She was having fun toeing at the line from what Alastor would consider too much, but she was very useful to him so let her have her fun, in the grand scheme of things it didn’t matter.

Now that was done it was on to the most exciting part of his day, it was too late to start now, but he was allowed into the kitchen, he figured he would do it today, so he could take his time and look around at all the supplies. Approaching the gate he signalled to the guard.

“What do you want?” Alastor pointed at the closed shutter on the kitchen.

“Hey, Alastor on kitchen staff list?” He turned to the other guard in the small security checkpoint and he loaded it up on the computer.

“Err, yeah… got updated yesterday.” The first guard turned to look at him.

“Right, well get here earlier next time, and don’t think of trying to sneak anything out.” Alastor nodded and the gate opened, he was allowed out and then down a side path almost immediately he noticed be passed through what he could only assume was a metal detector. They really took it seriously around here. Here he was in the kitchen, another inmate was already making the slop that would constitute breakfast and a guard was sat in the corner of the room watching everything. Alastor stepped in and looked around, It was time to start searching. 

***

Security was tight, there was no way with the searches that he would risk trying to smuggle anything out in the conventional manner, metal detectors and a search of his pockets. He couldn’t risk it no matter what. If he was caught trying to leave with something then surely, his rights would get taken and he would never be allowed in the kitchen again. He needed an accomplice, and it was going to be Cherri. She was, as always sat next to him on one of the benches as they whiled away the hours, after his day had ended in the kitchen, he nudged her slightly and she turned to blink up at him and waited. He gently tapped on the table and Cherri listened carefully.

**NEED TO SMUGGLE FROM KITCHEN NEED YOUR HELP**

Cherri blinked as she translated it in her head and then quietly whispered out.

“Okay… how we gunna do it?” Alastor taped her with his elbow and then just using a finger pointed across the room, a couple of sinners were sat at the table fiercely kissing one another. Cherri took a moment and then turned back to Alastor with an eyebrow raised. 

“You want to pretend we’re a thing… so you can pass me somethin' with a kiss?” Alastor nodded. It was the safest way, he was completely out, Alastor couldn’t smuggle anything. So either he had to hide it in food or pass it to someone on the other side of the counter. It was watched by guards, so sleight of hand into a pocket was out, as too was the food option. There were too many things that could go wrong with that, what if a guard interrupted and the food with the item in it went to someone else? Or if the food was dropped and the item discovered. 

If he hid it in his mouth, it means he could choose not to do it in case something went wrong or if something went wrong. It had a good out option. Cherri tilted her head.

“If you’re sure, but we’re gunna have to start pretending we’re fuckin’ pretty soon, you ain’t just gunna kiss me randomly are ya?” Alastor shook his head. He tapped out. 

**TONIGHT**

A plan was set, with almost everything accounted for… except one thing, Alastor didn’t take into account how much Cherri would commit, she clearly didn’t believe in half measure and also owed a lot to Alastor, thank god Alastor could keep a straight face, or at least a straight smile. In the couple of hours that was left before curfew would be sounded out Cherri had sauntered over and straddled straight across Alastor as he was drawing sat on a bench by himself. Cherri’s half lidded grin was one thing, but the tongue running up the side of his neck was something else and pulled looks from virtually everybody in the room. 

Cherri had no shame, literally no shame whatsoever as she sucked and kissed just underneath his ear. Then started ‘whispering’ loud enough that people nearby could hear but in a way that sounded like it was supposed to be private. 

“I’ve been thinkin’ about your cock… all fuckin’ day! Why do we have to wait until tonight baby?” she started grinding her hips against him and Alastor’s smile twitched, He grabbed either side of her hips and squeezed earning a little yip of surprise. She ran a hand up and down her front.

“You’re makin’ me so fuckin’ hot baby, come on… let’s go now….” Alastor smiled and shook his head and Cherri gave a huge pout as she stood up but not before bending over and pulling her fabric of her top down just enough so that Alastor could see straight down it, in a very obvious display. 

“Just a little taste of what’s later…” She leant in and kissed him hard on the mouth and Alastor had to kick start his brain for a few seconds before he reciprocated and Cherri sauntered off. Every eye was still glued on Alastor and having a quick glance around there were plenty of wickedly sinful grins too. Turning his head he watched Cherri approaching Arackniss and whispering something in his ear, the dark haired spider met Alastor’s gaze shook his head and then started laughing. Oh good, Cherri had let him know, if they were going to fake it the only other person who needed to know that, would be the spider as he was in the cell with them. Alastor turned back down to his drawings, he had torn each of the paper pieces he had into postcard sizes and was detailing and shading each one, it helped pass the time and was clearly earning him some favour with Charlie. 

There was a strange thought, Alastor still couldn’t quite put his finger on it with the princess, his instincts were so far off the mark he was having trouble deciding what was real about her, physically she looked weak and helpless like a little baby rabbit, but had this old fox not muzzled himself he would be in solitary, she didn’t seem to get hurt easy, couldn’t stab her that was for sure. Alastor wasn’t even sure if his magic would do it, using his experience from Lucifer anyway. So his thoughts on her physical form were off, and so how could he trust her mind or personality either. He had flirted with her, and she seemed to have responded well to it, it’s always good to get on a good side of the law, especially if you plan on doing something that he was sure would get him in a lot of trouble.

When talking to Cherri and by proxy other people, it looked like personal reviews were never carried out by Charlie, so why was his? And why did he have a one-week later review with her too. That was almost completely unheard of. Either he was playing her or he was being played and at this point he didn’t know which it was. What sort of suicidal idiot tries to actually honey up to the warden of his prison, a desperate one. Charlie was certainly easy on the eyes and she sounded sweet an innocent, that riled up something primal in him, but that aside he would harmlessly flirt with her until the line was drawn and then simply back off. 

Turning back, he began to shade the most recent picture, it was Charlie sat in the shade of a tree sleeping like an Angel whilst two squirrels fought over an oversized acorn. Cutesy and he was sure she would love it, all too easy. He continued and started a new sketch by the time the klaxon sounded out and he got up. Moving back to his cell he noticed a lot more eyes were following him this time, Cherri was waiting for him as was Arackniss, Cherri reached up and took Alastor’s pillow from the bed and handed it to the spider who looked up at it confused. 

“What’s this for?” Cherri gave a very cheeky smile and spoke a fraction too loudly.

“I’m a screamer you might want to plug ya ears with it.” Arackniss rolled his eyes and groaned.

“Fucking great… thanks.” They couldn’t start yet the cells hadn’t closed and the same souls kept reappearing passing the open door, feigning going back to their own cells but in reality they were just taking a quick glance in to see if it had started yet… filthy perverts. Cherri put on a good show at least, she had got Alastor to lie down and was in process of kissing up and down his neck whilst guiding his hands over the contours of her body. It was only when the klaxon sounded again and everyone actually rushed off to their cells before the doors shut did she stop. 

“Ready?” She looked at Alastor and appeared slightly nervous, there was a camera in the room so it was no good just sitting there and moaning away. Alastor nodded and Cherri pulled up Alastor and covered them both with the thin sheet at a poor attempt to cover their privacy from the watching security camera. She whispered under her breath.

“Take everything off me… it has to be believable right?” Alastor tilted his head and gave her a very confused look. 

“It’s fine, just do it, then rock against me… I’ll do the rest.” With very careful hands Alastor started to undress Cherri and throw her clothes of the side of the bed so they pooled on the floor. Since their faces were hidden, Cherri was kissing the back her of hand loudly and letting out little moans. Soon enough Cherri was laying there, complete naked underneath Alastor, he respectfully kept his eyes locked onto her face and she smiled at him when she realized. She let out a tiny snigger, and whispered out. 

“You can fuckin’ take a look if you want.” Alastor shook his head and Cherri beamed at him. 

“Old fashioned fucker…” She shifted around slightly and curled up her legs so both of them were sticking out from under the blanket. From the camera it looked like Alastor had her pinned under him with her legs in the air. He rocked back and forth and Cherri wiggled her legs around with the timing so the whole bed frame moved, perfect. Alastor was so glad that his face was covered, because when Cherri started being vocal, Alastor had never heard such unadulterated filth come out of a pretty mouth before and he went red in the face, he kept up the motion and felt like hanging his head in shame, well at least he would if that action wouldn’t plant his face straight into Cherri’s heaving bosom as she shouted out at what felt like the top of her lungs.

“OH, FUCK YES ALASTOR! FUCK ME! FUCK ME WITH YOUR HUGE COCK… FUCK, ITS SO FUCKIN’ GOOD.”

Alastor’s eyes twitched sporadically as Cherri followed that up with such indecent moaning, it would have made a room full of perverts blush, was she finished? Absolutely not.

“YOU’RE MAKING ME SO FUCKIN’ WET” There was a wet sucking noise as she loudly sucked on her fingers.

“DO I TASTE GOOD? DON’T STOP FUCKIN’ MY BRAINS OUT!” This horrifying display continued for almost too long but the pièce de résistance came at the end and it made Alastor want to be sick. Cherri was getting more frantic with her shouting until she finally let out an unholy yell followed by.

“CUM IN ME DADDY! FUCK YES, MAKE ME YOUR LITTLE BITCH, STAIN ME WITH YOUR CUM… F-FUCK! THERE’S SO MUCH…” another round of finger sucking.

“DO YOU LIKE IT WHEN YOUR BABY GIRL EATS YOUR CUM OUT OF HER?” Alastor’s stomach turned in place and he stared at her, Cherri grinned at him and shrugged as she lowered her legs. Alastor’s ear twitch but he could have sworn he heard someone call out.

“I’ll have what she’s havin’.” Alastor let Cherri crawl out from under him and surprising she pulled him down.

“If you leave now it’ll be obvious we ain’t done shit, just stay here for a bit…” she whispered out and settled down on her side, Alastor sidled up behind her and rested down too, there was a good few inches between them but to the outside looking in, it was a couple spooning in bed. Arackniss removed the pillow that he had been attempting to smother his face with.

“You two finally fucking done? Fucking hell!” Cherri called out indignantly.

“Just cos Al knows how to show me a good time, you don’t need to be fuckin’ jealous.”

“Oh That was a good time? I thought it was someone smashing a bag of cats against a wall.”

“Well just cos you’ve never been with a woman, don’t mean you can be bitchy to me about it.”

“I’ve been with plenty of women, shut your face!” Cherri paused and then let out a tiny giggle as she settled down more. 

“Looks like it runs in the family.” she closed her eye and thought back on all the times she and Angel would fight. It left Alastor to sit there, uncomfortably close to Cherri’s naked body. He really hoped this was a good idea… it probably wasn't.

The next day was in a word... awkward, almost every single pair of eyes stared at Alastor and Cherri who was holding his hand as they left the cell that morning. If he thought the display yesterday was getting attention it was nothing compared to now, this place was filled with perverts. Alastor was almost certain he could feel eyes hungrily undressing him and it made him nervous and the smile stayed fixed on his face. At least he could get away from them, it was time to start cooking so he moved to the exit after Cherri kissed him quick to say goodbye, as he parted from her she was almost immediately swarmed by other female inmates and a gaggle of questions spewed forth and Alastor internally struggled with keeping that smile going as he staggered off, just managing to hear Cherri start boasting.

“Yeah, it was that fuckin’ big I thought it wouldn’t fit, but… fuck, it was good.” He hoped and prayed that he wouldn’t be known as the Casanova of the prison block, just keep with the monstrous soul eating cannibal please… please? He got to the exit gate and the guard looked at him.

“Kitchen duty?” Alastor nodded and there was a buzzing sound as the gate slid open, he was escorted down the side and through the metal detector before being let into the kitchen, the shutters were still down and now he had time to work. There was the guard watching him to make sure he didn’t do anything suspicious, well he was but he had to hide it as well as he could. 

Porridge for breakfast again, but at least with Alastor’s flair for preparations he could make it far more palatable, he began mixing the oats and water over the simmering heat after the ignition of the gas ring on the oven. He stirred it constantly and his eyes shifted to the guard, now was the time to start. He knocked the pan slightly and water cascaded over the top and put out the gas hob. Alastor made a frustrated face and pressed the ignition button again and nothing happened, just a sound of clicking… perfect he drowned it. The guard had seen this and Alastor after his explore yesterday went to the drawer containing the igniter stick and tried that against it instead, he deliberately failed to click it and shook it in his hand as if trying to hear if there was any gas left in it. The guard folded his arms.

“Not working?” Alastor shook his head and then went back to the drawer and pulled out the box of chef’s matches instead and relit the gas ring before stirring the large pot of porridge again and smiled and the guard, the guard didn’t smile back. Alastor moved with the igniter stick and placed it on a counter top before pulling out one of the sharp knives that were mounted on the wall and using the fine point undid the screws. The guard looked on in interest as he watched Alastor ‘attempt’ to fix the broken thing. He took off the casing and stared at its contents, there it was, coated in plastic but the igniter is what he needed. He made an attempted at checking all the parts over and then looked at the guard again and shook his head.

“Broken?” Alastor nodded.

“Bin it, I’ll get a new one ordered.” Alastor gave a smile and cradled all the parts he had separated before dropping them in the bin, well all but one part. He scratched the side of his face and yawned just as a small black piece of plastic disappeared inside his mouth, he washed his hands and returned to the pot, stirring and adding a dash of cinnamon. He would have loved to add some fruit but they didn’t have any… maybe its something he could ask Charlie about. Still, it was just about ready. And Alastor picked up the huge pot and brought it to the front where the roller shutter was and pressed the button for it to lift. A queue had started to form and Alastor glanced over Cherri who was waiting in the line already with plastic tray in hand.

He served up and everyone seemed far more receptive to his cooking, after the initial worry that he was going to be cooking people, his porridge went down at treat, well until Cherri came and opened her mouth.

“Smells amazing baby, but I know your cum is way tastier… unless you made a special batch of porridge just for me?” Alastor smiled at her before scooping up some porridge and placing it on her tray, the demon who was after Cherri took one look at the large pot before dropping his empty plastic tray and abandoning the queue altogether. Cherri rolled her eye and huffed.

“It was a fuckin’ joke!” Cherri leant in and captured Alastor’s mouth in a fiery kiss and Alastor deftly passed the small object to her, she blinked and then leant back.

“Better not hold up the queue, baby. I’ll see you later yeah?” Alastor nodded and smiled before turning his attention to the next person in line. 

Once breakfast was served and he was thoroughly checked for any contraband or knives Alastor was escorted back into the main cell. Cherri practically bounded over to him and dragged him away to their cell, more eyes followed them. Alastor hated this hiding in plain sight stuff, it made him very anxious but to her credit Cherri clearly knew how to do it, even if it was over the top and often disgustingly graphic. Alastor had to keep on reminding himself, it was results that mattered not the process. Cherri and him went straight under a ‘privacy’ blanket in the bunk and Cherri quickly took her top off and throw it off the side. She passed him the thing that she had taken from him out from a pocket.

“What is it?” Alastor shook his head and very, very carefully prized apart the plastic casing revealing the tiny murky white crystal underneath. It would be too hard to explain so he just smiled at her. He quickly tapped out a message on her leg.

**We need to hide this.**

“Use my pillow.” Alastor reached around and slid the tiny thing just inside the covers. Cherri shuffled her head around and roughly shoved two fingers down her own throat and started to gag herself, Alastor furrowed his brow as her eye had begun to water, there was a spluttering noise and she smiled up at him. Leaving him still resting under the blanket she slid off and wiped the corners of her mouth and reached down for her top and shifted her jaw around. Alastor heard her joke.

“Not gunna need lunch, after that load, but fuck if my jaw doesn’t hurt…” There was a laugh, so they were still being watched. Alastor would have to get used to that and he sighed. But the smile on his face was real. He had managed to get himself a piezoelectric crystal, he might have been a teenager during world war one, but he certainly paid attention when it came to radio advancements in technology. 

He knew how to make a radio from junk.

This was the first part...


	8. What a Nifty Date

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Husk goes on a date with Niffty and Alastor continues his collection of items for his radio project.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes I did release two chapters today, I'm not sorry and the third might even be out in a few hours... I'm SWINGING WILD

It had been barely a minute and he already felt like shit, He had turned up five minutes late and Husk had seen Niffty standing outside on the street, she was looking up and down the road clearly looking for him with such a wide smile on her face and it just lit up when she spotted Husk approaching and she waved before getting closer.

“Hey! You find the place okay?” Husk looked up at the bar they had decided on. Niffty wanted to go back to his favourite place, but Husk had suggested that they go somewhere new, he just wanted to be in a place that Niffty could at least enjoy once she stopped enjoying his company.

“Yeah…” Niffty had clearly made an effort, she had stylized her hair and was wearing a very pretty white and black dress. She smiled up at him and Husk felt like a bum in comparison, he had made sure there were no crumbs in his fur and that was about it. 

“Let’s go then! I can’t wait.” She beamed and skittered forward and opened the door, letting Husk go in and she clapped with excitement.

“Find us some seats, and I’ll get you a drink! What do you want?” Husk shrugged, honestly at this point as long as it had alcohol in it, it would do.

“Just something strong…” Niffty nodded and moved over to the bar she came up to just about the counter and had to hop up onto a stool to get seen as she waved for service. Husk shook his head, looking at her boundless energy seemed to just tire him out and he found a secluded booth and sat down and started to idly fiddle with the card coasters that were on the table. Why did he ever agree to this? Oh, yeah… because she was crying. Well time to make her hate him, just like everyone else that ever tried to get to know him. He sighed and rubbed a clawed hand down his face. A few minutes in a Niffty appeared.

“Rum for you… and a raspberry mojito for me! She sipped at the very pink drink with a straw and beamed at him as she sat opposite him.

“Thanks.” He grumbled out and took a large swig, it left a nice burn going down and he sighed and closed his eyes as it went down, opening them again Niffty was staring at him with her wide eye and she looked content, she suddenly seemed to realize and blinked before blushing and turning away.

“S-Sorry, I know I stare sometimes.” Husk shrugged and took another drink.

“Doesn’t bother me, least you’re quiet when you do it.” her mouth turned up into a warm smile. 

“Thanks, so… I’ve always wanted to know about your wings!” Husk looked at them, red and feathered and curled up by his back.

“What about them?” Niffty played around with her straw whilst taking another sip.

“Do they work? It’s just I’ve never seen you fly.” Husk rubbed his temple with one hand.

“Yeah, they work… I just don’t use them, too much effort to fly when I’ve got two perfectly good legs…” Niffty spoke wistfully.

“I wish I could fly, get all the cobwebs in the corners without needing a ladder…” Husk shook his head and took another swig.

“Heh, you’d just get the cobwebs in your wings too easy, and it's a nightmare to get off feathers.” Niffty looked downright panicked.

“Oh my goodness!” She turned to look at her non-existent wings to check for cobwebs. 

“You really hate dirt don’t you?” Niffty nodded and her hands clasped together.

“Yeah, some people think its annoying, but I just like to keep things neat and tidy.” Husk shrugged.

“Some people should mind their god-damn business then, shouldn’t they? Not like its hurting anyone.” She looked up at him and smiled softly, her face looking up at him.

“Thanks Husk…” Husk ran a claw and scratched the back of his head.

“It’s nothing, but if you hate dirt maybe don’t come back to my place…” It was an awful joke but he didn’t expect it to fall as flat as it apparently did. Niffty’s face fell still, then she spoke with a small tremble in her voice.

“T-That’s okay, you can come to mine instead.” A silence descended as Husk stared at her, then he blinked and took another long drink and emptied the glass.

“Yeah, well anyway thanks for the drink.” Niffty grinned.

“You’re welcome, would you like me to get you another?” Husk shook his head,

“Nah, If you get me a drink every time I want one you’d be bankrupt by the end fo the night.” He shuffled up and moved over to the bar, Niffty watched him leave and then let out a sigh into her drink as she took another sip, still playing with the straw. 

“That was stupid, stupid, stupid!” Niffty let out a groan, she had been too quick with that invite, she was just so excited to finally have got Husk out with her, she was always too forward with men she liked, she drummed her fingers on the table. Husk wasn’t going to enjoy this if she did stuff like that, she needed to cool it. Husk reappeared and sat back down with a new glass, looked like he had stuck with the rum.

“You like that then?” Husk took a drink.

“It’s not awful.” Niffty blinked and looked at the yellow eyes and white furred face and the blush came back to her cheeks.

“Erm, so anyway we were talking about your wings? So how come you have those patterns on them, you like cards?” Husk flexed his wings so the card suits were more visible, probably why he was down here in fact, gambling was a sin and he was very guilty of it, but damn if he wasn’t good at cards.

“Yeah, I like cards…” Niffty’s face seemed to pick up with interest.

“Like casino cards and stuff?” 

“Sometimes, or just at bars… clubs… wherever…” 

“So what’s your favourite game? Blackjack?” Husk shook his head, no fun in blackjack playing against the house was always boring, but playing poker against other suckers who were willing to lose it all, now that was fun.

“Texas hold’em.” Niffty laughed.

“Of course, I bet you’ve got the best poker face!” 

“Cant read a thing from me, when I’ve got my game face on.” Niffty nodded.

“I bet you won loads of times.” Husk shrugged slightly.

“Won enough… I just never quit when I was ahead.” Niffty leant forward on the table

“Will you teach me how to play?” Husk frowned, well frowned more.

“I dunno… it’s been a while since I played last…” Niffty gave him a cheeky smile.

“What if I get you your next drink, in return for a little lesson?” 

“Sure Niffty you got a deal.”

***

How had it come to this? Niffty’s body rocking across his hips picking up the pace as she moaned into the air, her sweat covered body shaking as her insides were being stirred and jolted by his member and her wetness was causing his fur to matte by his crotch. Her whole body shook as she came again and she crouched over and captures his lips in a sloppy kiss, she was far too drunk for this and Husk had just let it happen, he was a garbage person.

Niffty had kept drinking until late into the evening and Husk was just keeping his buzz as steady as it always was, he doubted he could actually get blackout drunk any more, he just suffered a constant hangover when he wasn’t drinking. Niffty had staggered to her feet and wobbled around all over the place when they finally called it an evening.

“I think I should walk you back to your place, you don’t look right.” Niffty hiccuped and blinked at him before giving him a sideways grin.

“Awwww Your such a sweetheart Husk!” Husk rolled his eyes.

“I just don’t want you to get mugged on the way home.” Niffty was cooing.

“My guardian angel! You’ve even got the wings!” She offered her hand and wobbled in place, Husk sighed and took her hand and she practically giggled with joy as she held it. Husk walked out and turned to Nifty who was just bouncing all over the place on the balls of her feet.

“So where’s your place?” Niffty frowned and kept trying to spin in circles as she was attempting to find her barrings, forgetting that she was still holding Husk’s hand and almost choked herself. 

“Errm, This way!” She pointed in one direction before pausing and swinging her arm to point in the opposite way. Husk groaned and allowed the excitable little demon to lead the way, he had no idea so either they would find it or wander around city until Niffty sobered up. Lucky for him Niffty had got the directions right the second time and they were at her front door as she tried to unlock it with shaky hands missing the keyhole constantly and frowning as she got more and more frustrated.

“My depth perception is a bit off! Because I only have one eye.” 

“Because you’re drunk…” Niffty frowned up at him but then got in the lock and stuck her tongue out at husk.

“Did it! All by myself…” Husk let go of her hand and Niffty almost fell over stumbling inside now that she wasn’t being anchored by the large cat.

“W-Wha-? Don’t you want a drink or something.” Husk shook his head and Niffty looked crest fallen.

“B-But, I thought you were going to teach me cards? I think I’ve got a pack in here somewhere!” Husk groaned and rubbed his eyes.

“Maybe when you’re sober Niffty.” She pouted at him.

“Come ooooon! You’re here now lets do it!” Husk let out a pained sigh.

“Fine, fine.” He stepped in and a more opposite place to his apartment you couldn't find. It looked almost clinically clean, everything was neat there wasn't a single thing out of palace on any of the surfaces even the magazines were stacked neatly one atop of another. Niffty grinned and took him by the hand and led him through her place before opening a door into her bedroom and Husk stopped dead.

“Woah, what are we doing in here Niffty?” The tiny demon giggled. 

“I thought we could lay the cards out on the bed!” Husk blinked in Niffty’s bedroom, it was a subtle yellow but it was her bed, why did Niffty have a king-sized bed? She was tiny… this was a bigger bed than husks, surely it was a pain to change for one tiny person? There was a small tug as Niffty tried to get him to step inside the room.

“Come on!” Husk relented and sat on the edge of the mattress and Niffty blinked and smiled at him.

“Right you stay here! I’m going to get the cards!” She staggered around and managed to find her way out of the bedroom. There was the sound of a stumble and then something hitting the floor before a fumbling as other items were knocked onto the floor. Husk narrowed his eyes and considered getting up but heard her call out.

“I’m fine!” there was more stumbling and another crash before he started to hear her coming back.

“Oh for fuck sake…” Niffty was standing in the doorway, wearing nothing but her lace underwear, there was a large graze on her forearm, where she had clearly fallen over trying to get the dress off. Husk started to get up.

“I’m going to go Niffty, you’re too fucking drunk.” Niffty furrowed her brow and didn’t shift from the doorway attempting to block Husk from leaving, he was almost certain a gentle breeze would knock her over. 

“I’m not drunk! I’ve been thinking about this for a long time!” Husk sighed.

“Your drunk, you don’t know what you’re doing, you’ll only end up regretting it.” Niffty looked confused at him.

“Sleeping with the man who saved me!? What’s wrong with that!” Husk rolled his eye.

“I didn’t save shit, I just called in something that was going on.” Niffty looked at him and folded her arms.

“You can say it you know! I don’t care!” 

“Say what?” 

“Say I’m too short!”

“What the fuck?” 

“I get it, you don’t like short women… it's fine… just go.” She dropped her arms and stood to one side in attempt to let him pass. Husk should have left then, it would have been better for him, but honestly if she was going to think he was an asshole at least it would be for the right reasons.

“I don’t care that your short… it makes you look nice…” he regretted it immediately and Niffty practically launched herself at him the impact made him swing out widely as he toppled backwards and Niffty was sat on him and nuzzling straight into the fur in his neck. 

“You think I look nice?” 

“Get off me Niffty…” She gripped tiny fingers in his fur and whispered softly.

“Please…” Husk had lost the will to fight her off, just let her have her drunken mistake and be done with it. 

Now here they were Niffty riding him like it was the last fuck she would ever receive and Husk regretting his decision, As they finished the kiss Niffty reached her hands out to lift one of Husk’s hands to drag claws gently over her tight body as her hips rocked quickly back and forth. A low pressure was building and Husk face twitched as Niffty had lifted herself up slightly only to slap straight back down with a satisfying wet thump and she shuddered at the sensation. Husk grunted and started to speak out by Niffty quietened him with another kiss and just moved back and forth until he came straight into her and she grinned at him, panting. She rested her head down on his chest, stroking his fur and then she fell asleep with Husk still inside her. It left the cat laying there awkwardly, he was hoping he would have a chance to leave but now Niffty was just gently snoring on top of him and he didn’t want to shift her. He let out a groan and leaned head back.

“What a fucking mess you’ve got yourself into this time.” It took a very long time for him to finally fall asleep. 

When he woke back up the dull thud of sobriety raced across his skull and he groaned and tried to sit up, to remember a small warm mass that was still on top of him. Niffty however was awake and had apparently been watching him sleep.

“Morning…” She winced at the sound of her own voice, she was clearly suffering quite badly. What however was confusing Husk was the way she was staring at him, it wasn't with regret or disgust… she was happily smiling at him.

“Hey Niffty, you doing good?” He spoke cautiously but she shuffled up and kissed his cheek.

“I’m amazing, thank you so much for last night… for staying with me.” Husk.exe had stopped responding as the old rusty gears in his head completely locked up. Had this not gone badly? Wasn’t this a drunken mistake?... Had it gone well? Had something in his life gone well?

“Fuck…” 

***

Days ticked on and the gross expressions of Alastor’s new ‘relationship’ continued. He had to remind himself that this was the best way forward but it was working, because of it he was able to smuggle out sheets of cooking foil folded into little squares but more importantly. He had found out that it was the same guard on watch when he was cooking, and apparently the fellow had a taste for Alastor’s jambalaya but to be honest, no one could resist it when he cooked up a big batch of it, he always offered the first spoon to the guard as a taste test. Which was exactly what he needed.

He had also been invited to a couple of threesomes with Cherri, which he had to decline quickly before he started eviscerating people in the nearby vicinity. Cherri seemed to catch onto that pretty quick and declined them for him, stating. 

“That big ol’ cock’s mine.” Well it worked at least and Alastor thanked Cherri in private. She still asked about what he was going to do with his odds and ends but Alastor hadn’t budged. Now he needed to try to cash in some favours. He approached the kitchen guard with a smile and held out a small bowl. The red skinned creature took it and tasted before smiling.

“Alastor, my man. You’ve got skills I’ve never seen before, you are a maestro in this kitchen!” Alastor nodded and gave a thumbs up and then paused. He lifted an empty kitchen roll tube along with a small note.

**Can I keep this? I want to stick my drawings to it.**

“What like a picture frame?” Alastor nodded. The guard took the cardboard tube and checked it to make sure Alastor wasn’t sneaking anything else out before handing it back to him.

“Sure… I can't see what harm you can get up to with some card.” Alastor nodded and then flipped the small note over to reveal the other side.

**Can I get some masking tape? To stick the photo’s onto it.**

“You know I can’t bring things in for you Alastor.” Alastor scribbled something down.

**What about for some Cajun blackened shrimp?**

A moment ticked by, but he got a grin and Alastor felt the wave of relief wash over him.

“You got a deal chef man, but don’t cause any trouble with it, you hear?” Alastor nodded. I mean people got cigarettes in here, a pack of masking tape was hardly going to do anything. He had almost everything however there were two items that he would definitely need someone else’s help to bring in… someone malleable, hopefully someone who thought fondly of him.

He needed wire, and he needed a razor blade, and Charlie was going to help him get both. 

***

Charlie however, was not in the mood to do anything for the radio demon right now, as she stared at the camera feed once more, Cherri kissing Alastor… hands all over Alastor, the two of them fucking most nights and Charlie’s face twisted in anger… and jealousy. 

She turned off the monitor and crossed her arms huffing, she had to give him his weekly evaluation soon, and she was not looking forward to it… not one bit. In fact the more that she thought about it, the more it had started to upset her. Why was she so jealous of Cherri? Why did it burn her so badly. Her firsts clenched and she could almost start crying if she had half a mind too, its not like Alastor was involved with her in any way, the inmates all hooked up, it kept them docile, so why was she the angry one? Just because it wasn’t her being rocked into every night, face to face with his gorgeous stare. Feeling him fuck her, to release himself inside her…

There was a smash and Charlie blinked before she realized she had launched her cup across her office and it had smashed on the far wall. Pieces of ceramic littering the floor. If she was in a room with him, she might start shouting at him for no reason, she couldn’t have that… it would ruin her reputation. Randomly cry in front of an inmate because they're sleeping with someone else? Yeah, really great Charlie. 

She loaded up her computer and accessed the calendar, she loaded the calendar entries and modified the schedule so no one would be in the one way surveillance room and locked it down, instead, marking it as a private event. Now not even Vaggie could see that it had been modified by her. Then finally she loaded the security camera feed and removed that room from the loop. It wouldn’t appear in the sweeping feed for the security guards.

No cameras… No security… perfect. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I discovered the meaning of blind panic when I accidentally pressed upload instead of save as draft, So I had to proofread and edit the live draft, so please forgive me if you found mistakes.


	9. Sitting in a Tree...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Charlie gets hold of Alastor, things start to look serious.

Alastor was sat and had just finished his last postcard sized drawing, it was a special one and he stacked it last in the pile before putting them inside his jacket pocket. Cherri was sat by his side and leaned up against him as she hummed out a song. Alastor missed being able to sing, to listen to the radio. So even if it wasn’t exactly a ten out of ten performance he really did enjoy the vibrations and sounds Cherri made as she tapped a foot on the floor. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end and he paused before gently shifting Cherri so he could look around, standing by the gate and holding onto one of the bars was Charlie, and she didn’t look happy about something. 

The princess turned her head and she spoke before the gate opened and she moved in. There were more hushed whispers as souls instinctively backed away. She made her way straight to Alastor and he smiled at her, she didn’t return the gesture.

“Get up, we’re going for your review now.” There was a command in her tone that easily showed her displeasure at the whole situation. Alastor nodded and stood up and Cherri glanced up at Charlie who was making a point not to look at her at all. 

“See you soon Al.” She called after him and he nodded before she frowned at the back of Charlie’s head as she led Alastor away. Her pace was almost a light jog.

“Keep up.” They moved down a familiar set of corridors but this time he moved past the last room he entered into a different interrogation room. The same metal table and chairs all secured to the floor and one of the chairs having the extra set of manacles.

“Get in.” Charlie waited for him to move in before coming in behind him and shutting the door. Alastor made his way to the chair and sat down, holding his legs ready to be restrained. But Charlie didn’t try to restrain him to it but was still looking stern, Alastor wondered what this was about, had someone figured him out? Was this it? Charlie tried to speak but her voice got stuck and she had to cough to clear her throat.

“So, I hear that you’re cooking is going down great with everyone, even the guard stationed in the kitchen made a comment about your jambalaya.” She wasn't smiling and Alastor was concerned.

“You’re really settling in well aren’t you? Making new friends with your bunk mates too…” There was venom in the way she said that, oh shit, there it was. Cherri, Charlie had obviously heard about him and Cherri or possibly seen it. 

“So I think that you can continue in the kitchens… there think that just about does it…” She went to get up and Alastor frowned, two sentences and that’s it? Pulling him into a room and then spend less than ten seconds inside it? Charlie still looked unhappy, his mind ticked over and he didn’t get up. Instead, he pulled out his pencil and indicated he wanted to write something, Charlie paused and then unclipped a piece of paper from her clipboard and slid it to him. Alastor wrote down quickly.

**Are you okay?**

Charlie frowned at the paper note. She looked even more wound up, like she wanted to scream and took another few breaths and spoke through gritted teeth. 

“I’m fine… really let’s go…” Alastor wrote something else down.

**I’m a good listening, and who can I tell?**

He pointed to his throat and opened his mouth as if trying to make a noise and then shrugged. Charlie slunk back down in her chair and spoke quietly and sighed.

“I didn’t know you and Cherri got along so well, I err, it’s none of my business really…” Tapping the pencil down he wrote his response.

**She keeps me company because I didn’t think I had a chance for the attentions of someone I would have preferred.**

Charlie read that last part and she looked straight at Alastor, the frustration was gone and instead it was replaced with a strange longing, she bit her lip and swallowed again.

“P-Preferred?” Alastor reached into his pocket and pulled out his stack of complete sketches and slid them over. Charlie blinked and looked through them, as each one was turned over Charlie’s eyes began to lighten up and she had started to smile. They were all so intricate, so wonderful and just for her, all just for her. It was lifting her straight out of the slum she had found herself in. She froze and stared at the last picture and Alastor was carefully watching her expression as she did so, It was one of Charlie smiling and holding hands with someone else, their arm the only part of them visible in the drawing, but the manacles on their wrist was all too familiar. Charlie’s cheeks had started to glow.

“D-Do you draw anyone else?” Alastor shook his head and Charlie nodded to herself and seemed to come to a decision. 

Just Charlie.

“I-I think that m-maybe, I like thinking about this. Are these for me to keep?” Alastor nodded and Charlie carefully stacked them before clipping them behind her other work on the clipboard.

“I’ll put them on my fridge with the other one… Alastor, listen I…” She paused and looked down and frowned, she sighed and looked back at him. He blinked he could almost see his reflection in her wide eyes, she smiled softly and went to stand up.

The blush was still on her face as she did stand and Alastor went to follow her this time after putting pencil back in his pocket. As she moved to the door her hand reached for the handle but she paused, before turning and pressing her back against it. Alastor tilted his head, her whole body seemed to be finely trembling and she swallowed hard. When she spoke it was quiet as a whisper and her eyes were fixed on his face.

“I turned off the cameras in this room…” Alastor blinked, and then took a step towards her, Charlie’s heart was pounding in her chest and she couldn’t believe she had just admitted that as Alastor got closer, her legs felt weak and he was looming over her, she was so glad that she had the door to lean against otherwise she might have toppled over. Her eyes were staring straight up at him, glossy and wide and when Alastor leant down towards her ear she instinctively turned her head to one side exposing more of her neck to him, that pale, soft and delicate neck. There was something enchanting about her, Alastor had to find something out, he grazed her skin with his sharp fangs and planted his lips down upon her neck. Charlie let out a high-strung whimper and her hands clutches at his sleeves as she closed her eyes as his hair brushed up against her cheek as he sealed in the kiss on her neck. 

“O-Oh, A-Al…”

Her whole body wanted this, so very badly and she ached for him, his touch. When he lifted away she mewled for more as her hot breath escaped her lips. Alastor moved away for just a moment, he had to see, he had to know.

The skin on her neck was unblemished, not a single nick or mark. Alastor had torn out creatures throats easily with his wickedly sharp fangs, but Charlie was completely unfazed by it. Something very deep and very hungry was starting to rise up in him and Alastor had to actually try to maintain his composure as he brought his mouth low and bit, far harder this time. Charlie gasped loudly and whined at the touched as her shaking fingers gripped and knotted into his sleeves. Her hips wiggled slightly, in an attempt to get closer but Alastor was still a good few inches away and she cried out helpless against the pleasures that had spread from her neck down into her stomach. Her breath hitched when she felt a hand wrap around her waist, along with the cool feeling of the metal chains that still bound his wrists together that trailed down and rested against her legs. Alastor moved off and looked at her straight in the eye, her face was that of innocent arousal, a slightly red flush in her cheeks and lips parted open ever so slightly, her breathing was heavy and they stood there silently together. Charlie wasn’t making a move and was just staring at the intense red eyes that even now made her insides quiver. 

Alastor was sure of it now, he wasn’t the one being played. No one could act like this, not to him. He had decades of hunting, both animals and people to know when someone was putting on a false air of innocence, so many tried to use it as a shield but this? Charlie, well, she was a frightened doe, waiting for the stag to claim her. Alastor’s mind seethed with possibilities in a short instant, what he could do with her wrapped around his little finger. It was a shame that corrupting innocence, once completed was so utterly boring. Still, for now this could be very entertaining. He leant his head in and Charlie parted her lips more in anticipation and the two met, Alastor shifted his stance to press against her just to feel her squirm beneath him. But to his delight and surprise, it appeared he had made a mistake. This doe had some fire in her heart, Charlie moaned from her throat as her hands gripped tightly onto Alastor’s shirt, fingers feeling his chest underneath his clothes and her tongue slipped into his mouth first, exploring it with a barely contained passion. He gripped tighter onto her hips as he gave into her kiss and pushed her against the door as he felt her knees buckle as she moved her hands up and around to grip his hair as they passionately delved into each other's mouths again and again, barely separating for air Charlie was heating up and she wanted more, god she had fantasized about this for so long and it was actually happening her heart could barely contain itself and the rush she was getting meeting those lips and seeing those eyes so close, she couldn’t stand the intensity and had her eyes shut with each leading kiss as she explored and tasted him. Her hands were shaking, adrenaline was coursing through her veins and she gasped at his hands squeezing her thighs, she could feel the bulge in his trouser as it pressed up against her and she attempted to shift around, to press it against her intimacy, to feel the relief that she was desperately starting to need, she ached for him something awful, it was primal and made her toes curl at the thought and her hands gripped tighter into his red hair. She didn’t say a thing but her mind and body were begging him to take her, right now! And by the nine circles she would let him.

Then it was over and Alastor had pulled away, leaving Charlie trembling with an anticipation that clearly wasn’t coming, her breathing raged and harsh and her cheeks flushed red. Then she started to sober up and her hands came up to cover her mouth in horror as she realized what she had done, and the boundaries and rules she had broken. 

“I-I shouldn’t have done that… oh god, I shouldn’t have done that… this is so wrong, we shouldn't have done any of this. You shouldn’t even be here… I need to take you back… right now!” She brushed her hair up panicked and tried to tidy herself up before looking back at Alastor once more and turning away she moved through the now opened door and waited for him. Alastor’s quickly pulled out the pencil and wrote something on a scrap of paper, he folded it and waked closely behind Charlie, she was completely distracted and looked uncertain with her actions. He certainly couldn’t try to talk to her now, she was probably in complete denial of everything that just happened. Instead, as she walked he very discreetly leant forward and slipped the paper in her jacket pocket. Perfect, that should do it. He could hear Charlie mumbling something incoherently, clearly she was having a frantic conversation with herself, possibly a scolding for letting this happen but Alastor wasn't a fool.

He was sure she felt what he felt, now that he was completely honest there was a strong attraction there, he chalked it up to her innocent appearance, pleasing the more based parts of his psyche. But it was more than that, something stronger that he couldn’t quite put his finger on. It was a mutual bond that they had although Charlie seemed far more sensitive to the whole thing, more than just a fling or passing fancy. Alastor’s plans would have to change. The gates to his cell block opened and Charlie turned away and left without a backwards glance or a single word as Alastor was then pushed inside and the gate closed, he stood there and watched as Charlie disappeared out of view, she didn’t once look back and her whole posture seemed stiff and board-like. He would need to have a word with Cherri.

Charlie’s heart was still pounding hard as she tried desperately to fight off collapsing, she needed to get into her office for some time alone, to try to digest what she had just done. How badly had she just fucked up? She openly admitted she had turned off the security to his review… he could have done anything in there and attempted to escape, I mean sure he couldn’t really hurt her, but she wasn’t exactly strong enough to wrestle him down if he tried to force his way out.

But he didn’t do that, did he? He used the time for a kiss instead.

Charlie shook her head at the warm feeling that was spreading at the memory, it didn’t matter that he didn’t do something bad, he could have done, what if he tells someone that Charlie was doing this sort of thing? It could cause all sorts of problems.

But she trusted him… she didn’t know why, but she trusted him, from the very first time she saw him. It was instant and unconditional and she didn’t understand what it was, but Alastor was important to her somehow. 

She was getting more flustered, it was just a silly crush and she let it go too far. 

Not far enough, he hadn’t slept with her, claimed her on that metal desk… made her his. She struggled to keep walking straight as her imagination of freeing him of his clothes filled her mind. She shook her head frantically and took a moment to take deep slow breaths.

“Charlie?” Vaggie was approaching and Charlie groaned, oh no… not her, not now.

“H-Hey Vaggie, what’s going on?” Vaggie stopped just in front of her.

“On my way to check maximum security… are you okay? You look flustered.” Charlie attempted to wave her hand dismissively.

  
“Sure just got a bit of a stitch, think I walked too fast after eating…” Vaggie narrowed her eye but nodded.

“Okay, well I’ll let you know if my inspection turns up anything.” Charlie nodded. 

“Sounds great.” Vaggie moved on and took another look back at the princess leaning against the wall before disappearing out of sight and Charlie letting out a large sigh. 

“That was close... I can’t keep this up… I need to stop seeing him.” She felt awful at the thought but maybe it was for the best, she felt like she was running out of control on her own life when she was around Alastor, just happy to be swept up by him and carried off somewhere. The decision was made and she sighed again as she shoved her hands roughly in her pockets with her held hung low. There was a crinkle and she paused before withdrawing a folded up scrap of paper, opening it up she caught sight of Alastor’s neat cursive handwriting.

**Same time next week?**

Charlie couldn’t help the blushing smile from forming.

“Okay.” 

***

Alastor moved back into the cell block and Cherri rushed over to him.

“Everything go okay Al?” He nodded and then indicated that she should follow him, they moved to their cell, constantly being watched, everyone always wanted to watch them recently. He tapped out a quick message. 

**We need to break up**

Cherri tilted her head, and then frowned.

“Problems with the princess.” Alastor rocked his hand back and forth.

“Sort of?” He nodded in response.

“Have we got everything from the kitchen?” Alastor paused and thought about it before nodding. Cherri sighed.

“Shame, I was enjoying playin’ the radio’s bitch, you know I’m gunna make this amazin’ right?” Alastor furrowed his brow, what did she mean by amazing? 

“Come on, this needs to be public.” She had grabbed his arm and started to tug him back to the main area. Wait a minute, what did she mean public? Rule One with Cherri Bomb, when she commits she fucking commits. Cherri paused and then froze before she inhaled a lung full of air.

Oh no… not again. 

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN WE’RE FUCKIN’ OVER?” She screamed right in his face and he had to brace at the volume he was being barraged at, once more every single eye fell on the pair of them. Was Cherri done? She was not. 

“I THOUGHT WE HAD SOMETHIN’ SPECIAL THAT’S WHY I LET YOU DO ALL THAT WEIRD SHIT TO MY ASS! YOU’RE JUST A FUCKIN’ PRICK, WELL YOU KNOW WHAT! FUCK YOU! I CAN DO BETTER THAN YOUR BABY DICK!” A hand whipped around and Alastor head snapped to one side as she slapped him straight across the cheek. 

Why did he keep letting her do things, you would think he should have learnt by now. Was Cherri done now? She still was not. Cherri stormed towards Arackniss and she burst into tears as she jumped into a hug and almost knocked the spider over who was hardly prepared for it, he took one look at Alastor.

“You’re a real piece of shit…” Cherri was sobbing.

“D-DON’T SAY SHIT! IT J-JUST REMINDS ME OF A-ALL THE T-THINGS HE M-MADE ME D-DOOOOOOOOOO!” She pushed off of the spider and ran to the cell before jumping under the blankets and weeping so loudly it sounded like a banshee had been let loose. Alastor was left standing there with a red mark on his face, and the beginnings of a headache, he sighed and rubbed a hand over his closed eyes before moving to sit down. Souls around him shuffled away from him like he was about to jump and molest them.

This was never going to get easier, he hoped his patience could outlast Cherri’s amateur dramatics, he wondered in a few days, where exactly he would sit, a cannibal mass murderer, an extremely potent lover… or now a weirdo with a strange fetish.

Meanwhile, in the security office there was a howl of laughter as someone clipped together security footage and sent it around in a mass email.

**> Looks like I win the office bingo for most impressive domestic.**

**> > Shit man, she just laid into him, isn’t he some sort of serial killer?**

**> Yeah, but she doesn’t give a shit does she, wonder if he did the dirty on someone else…**

**> > No respect… but check out her rack… damn!**

**> >> WHOEVER THE FUCK SENT THIS SHITTY MESSAGE ACROSS THE ENTIRE NETWORK BETTER BE IN MY OFFICE IN 5 MINUTES TO EXPLAIN WHY THEY WANTED TO BE IDIOTIC BEFORE I BREAK THEIR FUCKING LEGS.**

**VAGGIE**

Charlie grinned to herself and turned off her computer after deleting the message chain, she flipped over her papers and stared at the small neat stacks of portraits of herself.

Looks like Alastor was serious. 


	10. K.I.S.S.I.N.G and a close shave

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Husk reflects on the past few days and Alastor gets lucky, very lucky.

If Husk was capable of panicking he would probably be doing so with all the things that had started going on in his life. Did he have a girlfriend? Is that what this was… It had been so long since he had been with anyone he couldn’t remember the feeling, like a distant cloud surrounded by a blanket of fog. He had once joked that he had ‘lost the ability to love years ago’ the reality of it was, he had forgotten how to love. 

Then along came Niffty, ever since they had their drunk sloppy sex she had never been happier and they had sort of, unofficially got together. It’s not like Husk asked her out or anything but she would always see him at the end of her shift and the beginning of his. She would bring a small batch of cookies that she baked for him to dip into his coffee and would slide a office chair and just sit next to him resting her head against his fur covered arm.

They wouldn’t speak, Husk needed to concentrate on monitoring security, but it was oddly peaceful with Niffty by his side, until eventually she would yawn and needed to go home to sleep, she’d give him a kiss on the cheek and take her chair away leaving Husk to the rest of his shift, strangely colder than he would normally be. But it was his days off that proved the most interesting, when he had an evening free and Niffty wasn’t up to anything he would go round hers to teach her the tricks of a few different card games, including the basics on how to count cards. 

That is until the evening would take a turn and Niffty would want sex, Husk had thought drunk Niffty was bad, it didn’t hold a candle to sober Niffty, that tiny woman was an absolute demon in the sack. Flexible too as it turned out and it hurt Husk’s back just looking at the way she would contort just to coax an extra half an inch to get deeper inside. It was like day and night, clean and ever so tidy on the outside, but in private she was a sex crazed maniac that just wanted to jump Husk’s bones at every available opportunity. 

Husk was hardly the most adventurous soul, he was grouchy, lazy and often slow to react. He made no attempt to claim to be a proficient lover, he could just about get enough satisfaction for himself and maybe for his partner to get to the end, with Niffty he might as well have been banging a broken water faucet. It was mind boggling how much liquid Niffty could both contain and also expel in a single evening. She would lay on top of him, panting and thoroughly exhausted when they were done. It was after one such session that Husk found himself now, Niffty kissed him gently and slid off to cuddle at his side, he could already see his seed leaking out onto her thighs as she lay there happily, they would sleep like this and then shower in the morning when Niffty would change the bed. It’s like this kind of mess was fine, but any other? She was a lunatic. 

“That was wonderful…” She sighed into him and nuzzled her face into his shoulder. Husk turned his head and looked at her.

“It’s not like I did anything, you’re the one doing all the work…” Niffty smiled through her closed eye as she began to settle herself down for sleep.

“But you wanted to be here… with me, that means the world to me…” She planted a kiss in his fur and nuzzled into it some more, breathing in deeply and sighing contentedly. Husk ran claws across his face and sighed, she was a mystery and so far didn’t seem to hint that she was getting bored with him yet. 

“Surely you want something a bit more, energetic?” Niffty shook her head.

“Nu-uh, I just want you…” Husk frowned.

“Why? Nothing special about me, I’m just a drunk who likes to gamble and got lucky enough to get a boring enough job to hold down.” Niffty’s eye opened and she quickly sat herself up and straddled across his stomach, I mean that was disgusting as she had smeared himself back all over his fur, but she always pulled this position when she wanted to be seen as important. She clearly had confidence issues about her height but when she was on top it felt like she was in charge.

“Don’t say that! You’ve got lots of great qualities…” Husk gave her a deadpan look.

“Yeah, sure like my award wining smile…” Niffty gave a small grin.

“See! You’ve got a sense of humour! And I know you have a heart in there! I won’t ever let you forget how you saved me!” Husk grumbled.

“You know if I hadn’t of called it in, I would probably have been fired, so…” 

“Call it what you want! But you did something nice for me! And I want to spend time with you and do nice things back!” 

“I wouldn’t call what we just did exactly nice…” Niffty giggled and leant down and whispered into his ear.

“Would you say you have a  _ nasty  _ girlfriend?” Husk didn’t know how to respond and just blinked as Niffty snuggled back into him and pulled up the blanket to cover them.

Apparently he did have a girlfriend, well okay then.

***

Charlie on the other hand didn’t know what she had apart from the hots for an inmate who apparently should be in confinement. This was stupid, so very stupid. She was sat on her sofa drinking heavily and watching TV, well she wasn’t really watching it, her eyes were just pointed at it but the moving picture on screen were simply out of focus. 

What was she after here? A fuck buddy, a lover? Boyfriend? What sort of shit was this, he would be gone in less than half a year, wonderful prospects for a long term relationship when he would be exterminated. She glanced over to her kitchen where she could just about see the collection of drawings her had given her. 

What an artistic soul, that wasn’t someone out for a quick fuck, but by hell she wanted to be fucked… once she had calmed down after their first encounter, she actually cursed herself for not trying to get his pants off. As she felt him pressed up against her he was more than ready clearly! But she just wanted him to take charge of her body, and he decided to be gentlemanly and not fuck after their first kiss. It was sweet and also very, very frustrating. 

Charlie was almost certain she was wearing out the motor on her vibrator at this point she was using it in the morning and the evening just to try to settle herself, but it wasn’t him and it didn’t have his wonderful eyes attached so it just felt hollow, She wondered if, when they met next he would kiss her again or what would happen. She knew what she was praying for, but damn. Alastor had become a drug and she was an addict with no hope of recovery. 

She had even started thinking about the idea of trying to disguise herself and sneak in, like in all of those musicals or children films she watched, like the princess and the pauper, it was a romantic notion. ‘The warden and the prisoner.’ Well romantic was a bit of a stretch, she mainly used the idea to fantasize about receiving his dick all evening under a thin blanket on a cell bunk. Charlie wholeheartedly blamed being single for so long had caused her to get desperate, but that was wrong? Surely if she was desperate she would have put up with that asshole snake, or any of the dick pics she had received, no she wanted someone that was clearly trying to woo her and even went as far as to break off the thing he could already have reliably for nothing more than a chance to see Charlie again. 

Who risks that? Well Alastor did and Charlie had never been wetter for him. This was getting ridiculous and she knew it. Every day at work she would just watch him, as she attempted to type up reports and other various pieces of work, but before long she would be absent-mindedly rubbing her thighs together and wishing she was able to jump through her screen straight into his arms. It had been decided, the next time they would meet, she would be sleeping with him, even if she had to beg for it… hopefully that could just give into her craving enough to finally get some god-damn peaceful evenings without having to swap out batteries every other day. 

***

After their ‘break up’ Cherri still would sit near to Alastor to help with her own anxiety of being left alone, but did it under the pretence of actively ignoring him in plain site, or flipping him off whenever he wasn’t looking at her. The air was heavy with tension as other inmates took bets on whether Alastor was going to kill her or they would have unbelievably loud make up sex. Most bets were on the sex, Alastor wasn’t exactly sure what Cherri had told people his kink was, and he really, really didn’t want to know. Whatever it was, it had come from Cherri’s imagination so it was probably going to be disgusting filth. It was different at night, when everything was silent, she would whisper out to him from her bed and he would tap out a reply, she missed their conversations. 

Cherri wouldn’t admit it or do anything about it but she had been tempted by more than one occasion just to slip into his bed so they could talk easier… but with the camera there she couldn’t without it seemingly like they were fucking again. Something to do with the princess and Alastor was going on and he hadn’t got all the parts together for whatever he was building so she knew better than to risk his plan.

But she missed him during the day, she really did miss him. Pretending to be his prison bitch meant she could just sit on his lap at random points in the day and give him a hug. She felt safe with him, and just wanted to hold onto that feeling.

“So… do you know when you might be able to get the stuff you need?” 

**No**

“Complicated stuff?”

**Yes**

“Anything I could do to help?”

**No**

**Thank you**

“Don’t mention it… I need you too after all, where would I be without Mr Radio Demon to look out for me in here?” There wasn’t a reply and Cherri risked her face to turn at look at him, he was just staring up at the ceiling, unblinking.

“Al?” His hand wrapped against the metal bed frame.

**Yes**

“...nothin’, I’m glad we’re friends.” Alastor frowned slightly, he had never been out to make friends in here, or one to ever keep friends when he was a free soul. But here he was, the radio and the bomb. She drove him up the wall, constantly made him feel awkward by her lewd remarks or gestures, but he had become very attached to her. Arackniss too now that he thought about it, he seemed to want to make sure Cherri was doing okay as well, probably for his brother’s memory but still it was something. Like a weird family. Actually scratch that, he hoped to god he never had a family like Cherri. 

One of the more recent nights he had been woken up from the rare amount of sleep he could get to the sound of slick fingers as Cherri had actually been masturbating, except that when she became aware that she wasn’t the only one awake in her cell she had actually started to softly moan out his name, to freak him out. It had worked and Alastor tried to plug out the sound with his hands. He had heard both her real orgasm and also an unbelievable amount of sniggering. She was a nightmare, but at least it was his nightmare. 

***

Same again, block off the interrogation room calendar and she had kept the camera off the network, if no one saw it leave then it had probably gone unnoticed, but she double-checked, Charlie’s heart was racing. She was actually going to do it, this was it, she was so excited she felt like she could piss herself, so she made doubly sure and went to the toilet before going to the cell block, nothing was going to ruin this for her. Well nothing apart from Vaggie’s inspection Charlie could hear the shouting before she saw the gate and picked up the pace. 

“Oh no.” Vaggie had thrown Alastor to the floor and had her foot stamped down on his throat as he struggled to free himself. Cherri was being physically restrained by Arackniss and dragged away it looked like she had a cut lip and a large portion of her face looked like it was swelling. Charlie quickly pushed past the guards into the main hall as Vaggie shouted at him again.

“Where the fuck did you get this? You stole it didn’t you!” In her hands Vaggie was holding a pencil. Charlie looked mortified.

“V-Vaggie, what's going on?” Vaggie turned wide-eyed, to stare at her approach before she bellowed at the top of her lungs.

“ALL OF YOU TRASH BACK IN YOUR CELLS NOW!” The inmates quickly disappeared Vaggie was not messing around and it was a poor choice if you pissed off the Iron Maiden. 

“I’m sorry you have to see this Ma’am, but I think Alastor has been stealing from us, I was about to search his cell for any more contraband... Alastor tried to move to relieve the pressure on his throat but Vaggie just dug her heel in and twisted. 

“Vaggie get off him, he can’t breathe!” Vaggie stared at her.

“It hardly matters, he’s going into solitary after this… stealing something is against our rules…” Charlie looked panicked.

“He didn’t steal anything!” 

“Then how did he get this pencil? They don’t just appear out of nowhere…” Charlie looked flustered. 

“I, I… gave it to him.” The silence was like a tonne weight pressing down on them and Vaggie blinked once.

“What did you just say?” Charlie doubled down and tried to steady her shaking hands.

“I gave it to him, he used it to communicate and he’s been drawing, he hasn’t hurt anyone!” Vaggie looked like she was about to burst, but she would never shout at Charlie, especially in front of other inmates… especially in front of Alastor. 

“Ma’am you know that I have advised against treating him different, but if you  _ supplied  _ it, then I guess he hasn’t done anything wrong…” She looked unbelievably sour about the whole thing and dropped the pencil to the floor before lifting her shoe off and marching away. Alastor immediately rolled onto his side and clutched at his neck as he gasped for breath again. Charlie waited for Vaggie to be out of sight and earshot before bending down and gripping Alastor’s sleeve, she didn’t care if others could see her at this point, she was known for having a heart, it could just be that. She spoke quietly

“I’m so sorry, come with me, let’s go somewhere private.” Offering her hand Alastor stood and winced as he stretched his neck out. He followed along behind Charlie and they left the cell block. Cherri almost throw Arackniss to the floor as she dashed to the exit of their cell.

“Where’s she takin’ him!? Al!... AL!” Of course there wasn’t a response and Cherri fell to her knees in the doorway. 

***

Alastor was being tugged along the corridors, he could see Charlie’s composure dropping by the second, she was attempting to look stern, as if he was about to get shouted at, but her lip was quivering and she kept glancing back at him. Alastor kept up with her as she roughly opened the door and stepped inside their familiar quiet room. As soon as the door shut Charlie almost cried out.

“A-Are you okay?” Alastor smiled at her and nodded, his throat would be bruised but nothing that wouldn’t eventually heal. She ushered him to sit down on the chair and she perched on the metal table just in front of him and with a trembling hand tilted his head up to look at the damage.

“I’m s-so sorry, Vaggie shouldn’t done this…” There was a sniff, and Alastor frowned as he lowered his head, tears were streaming down the side of her face. The hell was this? Charlie’s hands were shaking as she gripped onto his shoulders.

“Y-You don’t deserve this! Y-You’ve always f-followed our rules! It’s my fault Vaggie hurt you, it's my fau-” Alastor raised a hand a gently placed fingers on her lips and Charlie hushed and stared at him with tear filled wide eyes. Alastor wasn’t used to someone crying over his discomfort, it was unsettling. Charlie apparently had a big heart when she opened up to someone. Alastor reached down when Charlie had fallen silent and grabbed her hips and she let out a tiny yell of surprise when he pulled her down to sit sideways on his lap. She managed a weak and wobbly smile and ran fingers through his hair. 

“She wants you to go to solitary so bad, just because my dad said so… she can’t see you like I do…” Alastor’s eyes went wide, and he quickly pulled out his pencil. There wasn’t paper in sight and he looked expectantly at Charlie, flustered she rummaged around in her pockets and puddle out a discarded receipt when she last bought wine. It would do.

**What’s in solitary?**

Charlie looked at the bit of paper and then shook her head.

“I can't say… we don’t let inmates know.” 

**Please**

“I really can’t…” Alastor looked at her and underlined please several times, Charlie was just staring at him and she looked conflicted.

“It’s more than just about confinement… we keep them docile…” Alastor frowned.

**How? Drugs?**

Charlie shook her head.

“We save those for the insane and disturbed, so they can find peace… they don’t know what they’re doing so it’s compassionate… but solitary is about people who broke our rules…” Alastor tapped the word ‘how’ again. Charlie swallowed and looked uncomfortable.

“You know how if a piece of you gets cut off, it grows back?” Alastor nodded and didn’t like where this was going.

“We lobotomize them and insert a blocker so that part of the brain doesn't grow back. And the really bad ones, the ones we can’t control… like you, were supposed to get sealed in an air tight cell, not sure of where you are, who you are and just suffocating and reviving until the extermination came round.” Alastor face didn’t twitch but holy hell that revelation was something else.

It made sense too, a horrible twisted kind of sense. He was being played here and everything was falling into place. He had found something, something bad enough that his voice was taken so he couldn’t tell anyone and then somehow his reputation got worse, rumours were spreading on the outside about his monstrous powers that weren’t even based in truth, look at Cherri’s first reaction to seeing him. Now he learns that he was down to get lobotomized so he couldn’t even think about attempting to talk about what he knew. 

Everything pointed to Lucifer, and this was the place he was supposed to get silenced. Later when he would reflect on everything that had happened to him, he still never plucked up the courage to tell Charlie that it was this precise moment he fell for her, his little doe had saved his life because she had a crush on him and he would forever be grateful that he had got so astronomically lucky. 

It also meant that if this was all Lucifer’s doing, he would eventually find out that Alastor had not become a brain-dead lump stuffed in a cell, he didn’t have to worry about the extermination any more, a far more pressing concern was weighing down on him. 

How long until Charlie’s father figured out what had happened?

Charlie was staring at him, she had just broken another rule with him, she had told him a secret that no one apart from the staff should know, why was it so easy for him to get her to play along? Why did she want this? Alastor seemed to focus back in on her and Charlie waited for what she assumed was going to be horror or shock, maybe even disgust as the things she had done, instead he wrapped arms around her neck and pulled her straight into a kiss and Charlie almost jumped in surprise before being melted away by its soft caress, it wasn’t passionate and fiery like last time but instead soft and caring like Alastor was just trying to soothe her. When they parted Charlie shuffled around so that she had completely straddled him instead of just being side on and sat there looking into his face as she gripped round his waist. 

“A-Al, I…” Alastor reached across and just started to tenderly kiss under her ear earning tiny whimpers as she tried to speak.

“I don’t know w-what this is, but I don’t want it to stop… I want you Alastor, j-just you…” Alastor pulled back to look her straight in the face and Charlie was blushing.

“Do you w-want me too?” Alastor let go to grab the tiny piece of paper and scribbled something new.

**Just you.**

Charlie’s eyes lit up and she beamed at him. Alastor had to do it now, his time was running out and he scribbled something down.

**I need something from you.**

Charlie gripped onto his shirt.

“And I need something from you…” Alastor missed the inflection in her voice when she said it and wrote down the two most important things. 

**Razor blade, 1 small roll of copper wire**

Charlie stared at the list.

“Alastor, I can’t give you a blade, It-” Alastor leant in and started to gently kiss at the skin of her neck again as if pleading. Charlie mewled before pushing his head back with a grin on her face.

“You’re not going to hurt anyone are you?” he shook his head.

“You promise me? Absolutely promise that you won't hurt anyone?” He nodded, Charlie paused.

“Okay, I’ll do it but you owe me…” 

**What do you want?**

Charlie's slow grin spread and she settled herself forward and whispered her answer into his ear.

Charlie might be a little doe, but there was a streak of vixen in her hair a mile wide, Alastor agreed to the terms of the trade.


	11. What's on the Radio?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Charlie has an awkward conversation and then makes a trade. Alastor finds himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bit of a Smutty scene in this Chapter,

Charlie was nervous as she walked back to her office, everything had suddenly run away with her and it all seemed so scary. She let out a sigh and opened her door and jumped as a voice spoke out.

“What are you doing with Alastor?” Vaggie was sat in her chair and staring at her. 

“Ah! Vaggie you scared me half to death.” Charlie held her hand to her chest as she shut the door. Vaggie frowned and repeated.

“What are you doing with Alastor, Charlie?” Charlie tried to shake it off.

“N-Nothing, I’m not doing anything with him.” Vaggie stood up and moved over to her.

“Then why are you defending him like that… why are you giving him items that we don’t approve of! Why is he so special to you?” Charlie’s eyes went wide.

“He’s not special! Have you thought you’re just being overly cautious with him?” Vaggie snorted a dry laugh.

“Are you kidding me Charlie? Lord Lucifer himself, has said this guy needs to be put into solitary! How is that being cautious! Your father knows what he’s doing, he’s been keeping this city running for centuries!” 

“It’s just that Alastor hasn’t broken any rules and he’s been really polite!” Vaggie’s eye narrowed.

“You like him don’t you?” Charlie stuttered.

“W-What? No! It’s nothing like that! I just want to be fair!” 

“That’s the exact sort of thing that monster will use against you Charlie, he’s being manipulative! I don’t want to see you hurt. We could end it all right now if you would just let me take him to sol-”

“We’re NOT DOING THAT!” Charlie shouted and Vaggie went very still, Charlie took a deep breath in.

“S-Sorry, but I’ve told you. We can’t just do it. He hasn’t done anything wrong… when he has then sure, but I will not punish him any more than he already is, for hells’ sake Vaggie. He’s here until the extermination comes round. He’s going to d-die here. He can at least be comfortable…” Charlie looked the grey soul as her heart sagged, she was going to have to watch Alastor die at somepoint and she didn’t know how she was going to handle that. Vaggie huffed.

“You’re being so stubborn, but fine… I just don’t want you to get hurt Charlie, I couldn’t imagine it if you got hurt because of something I could have done now to stop it. So promise me, don’t do anything he asks you, just keep away from him and let him serve out his time… okay?” Charlie met Vaggie gaze and nodded.

“Okay… fine.” Vaggie seemed more relieved,

“Thank you, Charlie, anyway I better get back… I’ll see you later.”

“Yeah, catch you later.” Vaggie left and Charlie flopped down onto her chair and put her head in both of her hands. What sort of person was she becoming, she was lying to cover for Alastor now? But they were treating him so unfairly. She just wanted him to be as happy as he could be with the short amount of time he had left, happy with her. 

***

She was walking out after the end of her very long and tiring day when she heard it, a gently smooching and a tiny whimper, with an eyebrow raised, she poked her head around the corner to see Husk being straddled by Niffty in the kitchen, he hadn’t started his shift yet and was getting coffee when Niffty had clearly jumped him.

Good for them, Charlie smiled, Niffty had been sweet on him for so long, it was lovely to see right until Niffty started to drag Husk claws under her skirt and Charlie eyes went wide, holy hell She wasn’t wearing any underwear! Niffty!? A blush spread on her face and Charlie had to cough loudly before they ended doing something complete indecent in the middle of the kitchen. Niffty jumped what could have been seven feet clean in the air as she separated herself from Husk and almost frantically dashed out the kitchen past Charlie red as a rocket muttering something about ‘going home’ and ‘Princess Charlotte’. Husk just blinked, shrugged and then continued making his coffee. Charlie sauntered in. 

“Soooo, that’s going well…” Husk shrugged.

“It’s alright… I guess.” Charlie smiled smugly at him and wiggled her eyebrows.

“Come on… say I was right… she is good for you.” He rolled his eyes at her.

“You know, you don’t fit the smug asshole type Charlie, it doesn’t suit you.” 

“Awww, sounds like someone's in love!” Husk sighed and stirred the spoon in his coffee.

“Uh, huh, and how’s your love life going Charlie?” Charlie pouted and folded her arms.

“I’ll have you know I’ve met someone!” 

“And what’s wrong with this one?”

“Nothing! He’s the perfect gentleman!” Husk levelled a dead eye stare at her and Charlie blushed hard.

“No such thing here… What?” 

“Erm, I think you’ve got a little bit of…” Husk looked down and there was a small damp patch where Niffty had been straddled, he grumbled and grabbed the dishcloth and wet it before wiping his fur around the area.

“Fucking Niffty, I’m going to have to get a pole to keep her off me at work…” Charlie looked surprised, Niffty didn’t look the type.

“This, err… this happens a lot then?” He took a sip of the hot coffee.

“You have no idea…” Husk walked forward and past a rather stunned looking Charlie, something in the way he walked threw her off, like he seemed to have a little more energy in his step and not his usual slouching gait. 

***

This time there was a far different feeling in the air as Charlie led Alastor away, He could almost smell the excitement radiating off of her, and there was a slight tremor in her hands as she walked. 

“I’m hoping this review will go well Alastor, I’ve been watching your progress intently.” She tried to pass off fake conversation, but the smile that tugged on the corners of her mouth told a very different story. They got to their room and She ushered him inside. Before entering and pulling a key out of her pocket she locked the door and left the key stuck in there. There would be no chance of interruption. The interrogation rooms had all been sound-proofed there was no chance of anyone hearing them.

“Please take a seat.” She indicated for him to the chair and Alastor sat down, Charlie took off her jacket and hung it off the back of the opposite chair before cross round past the table and straddling straight onto Alastor’s lap. She smiled weakly at him as her nerves started to shine through.

“I-I’ve been thinking about this a lot.” Alastor soft smile and red eyes sent a shiver down her spine as he reached his hands up to gently hold her hips. She bit into her lip.

“I don’t know how many times I’ve imagined us together like this… but I want this, so badly.” Alastor squeezed his grip on her hips and started to gently rock her back and forth, Charlie let out a little whimper as she rubbed up against him and their lips came together. Timid at first, as they tenderly tasted each other's mouths, but soon Charlie was holding onto his shoulders and pressing her tongue hard against his. Her finger nails were digging in as she moaned, starting to feel the beginnings of his erection underneath her and it was making her very hot and very excited. They pulled back and Alastor bit down on the side of her neck earning a gasp as she titled her head to the ceiling, hips frantically bucking. 

“A-Al, p-please... m-more.” Charlie didn’t have to tell him twice. Hands reached up to gently tug apart her bow-tie letting the black material flutter to the ground as he started to undo each button on her shirt, a small parting of pale skin beginning to emerge and Charlie was watching with gasping breaths as she was being made vulnerable to him and she wanted it, so badly. He gently tugged the material open and Charlie lowered her arms to her side so the shirt slipped off her back, her pale torso completely open to the world and she shivered as Alastor ran his hands up her smooth back. She clutched hands to his face and brought him in for a kiss as he undid the straps to her black bra and it fell away, She pulled back revealing herself to him, small perky mounds of white with the tiniest dabs of pink at their summits. She such a pure beauty and Alastor had to resist the animalistic frenzy that was starting to build in the back of his head, he was a damned animal and he wanted to release it. Instead, he moved forward to kiss around her breast and Charlie’s eyes rolled up into her head as she moaned and gyrated against him. He captured a pink nipple in his mouth and sucked hard against and Charlie buckled hard and screamed at the sudden intense pleasure. 

“F-Fuck, Al…” Her hands were frantically scrabbling at him trying to hold on, to find purchase. Alastor pulled his mouth away and his pupils flared into pinpricks, it was the same here, not a single mark left upon her perfect alabaster skin, and it made him expel air through his nose as the animal inside roared to break this porcelain girl. Her whole upper body was shaking now as the excitement and adrenaline were getting too much, she was pawing at him desperately trying to remove his shirt, but she couldn’t get hold of the buttons and she whined in frustration. 

“A-Al, A-Al…” Hearing her plead his name, was pushing his restraint to the limit, her soft voice was filled with need. And Alastor grabbed at his own shirt to undo it, as soon as his skin was Visible Charlie was touching as much of it as she could, she ran her hands against his rather skinny frame, across his ashen chest and felt each groove and indentation of the many scars that littered its surface. There was another whimper as she bucked her hips again and Alastor would have grunted if he was able, as he had begun to press tightly against the fabric inside his pants. It looked like Charlie had just as much desperate need as him and she hastily went to undo the button on her trousers.

“Y-You n-need to…” She never finished her sentence as Alastor got up holding onto her, he pushed her trousers and underwear past her thighs and sat her down on the table. Charlie could see his eyes hungrily roaming over her now exposed intimacy. The pale skin that turns to a lightish pink and the small amount of blonde curls that sits just above it, her whole body was innocent beauty, she was perfect and Alastor had never seen someone so pure before, even alive, but down here in hell. She was unique, absolutely one of a kind, and he wanted her. Wanted her to be his, and judging by her excitement that was already showing, as it leaked a small trail down, she wanted it just as badly. She gasped as she felt her trousers get tugged off of her completely. 

Here she was, completely naked in front of the radio demon, the monster cannibal and she just wanted to be taken by him, she needed it. She swallowed hard and stared as he began to unbuckle his trousers, she needed to see all of him too, from his scarred chest and back, all the way down to his…

“O-Oh g-god!” His cock was out as his trousers fell down to his ankles, standing erect the tip glistening with moisture. This was for Charlie… all of this was for Charlie. It was amazing, he was amazing! Then he shuffled forwards slightly and the tip came that much closer to her aching entrance.

Oh god, it was happening, it was really happening. Her whole body was shaking now, as she watched, she was staring unblinking as it came towards her. A hand reached out, she wanted to feel it and she gently gripped the shaft, it was so warm, so inviting and she would have smiled if she wasn't concentrating on not losing her damned mind, Alastor tensed as she ran her delicate fingers all the way up and a fine strand or pre-cum stretched and extended as she lifted her hand away.

The warm tip pressed and teased at her entrance, and Charlie’s entire body froze up. She had to remember to manually keep breathing.

“G-Gently” She had no idea how badly the struggle was getting inside Alastor’s own head, he was screaming to break her, but she wanted it gently so he was going to do his damnedest, regardless of how much he was currently tensing and in agony over it. His eyes were locked onto her face and she met the intense gaze, her face that of pure and shameless pleasure, then the head of his member, slowly… ever so slowly pushed her open and started to slide in, inch by inch. There was not a word to describe the noise that came out of Charlie then, as the man she had fantasized about for so long had finally, fucking finally given her what she desperately craved. 

Alastor almost buckled and his eye twitched for a fraction before he put his mask back on, she was tight, unbelievably tight but so wet and warm it made his hands tense as he frantically gripped hold her ass as he held her steady and pushed his way inside. She lifted her legs and hooked them round his lower back to give him better purchase as he slowly slid himself in and out of her. Hands were gripping the back of his shoulders and she was gasping and crying out. 

It felt like a perfect fit, it was so close and as she writhed in pleasure her warm inside were gripping and squeezing around his cock. He couldn’t handle this it was getting too much as he rocked back and forth as she clung to him, her nails digging into his shoulders, clawing at him as she cried out. His mask was made of clay, and it was cracking but what pushed him over the edge, what finally broke him was when she orgasmed calling his name. The tensing around his member was so tight he couldn’t move it any more whilst she cried out his name at the top of her lungs. Her goddess body was flushed red as her pale skin contrasted so heavily with the colour spreading in her checks and down her neck as she panted. 

“A-Al….” Her breathy cry was almost completely unheard as Alastor’s own breathing became laboured and he finally lost control. The small puddle of her arousal was pooling on the metal table and with nowhere to go it coated the bottom of her thighs. There was a strange rushing sound filling Alastor’s head, he had spent weeks keeping himself in check, holding back. Not doing something incredibly stupid. But this beautiful creature, its innocence and purity, this little doe… needed to be broken, and he couldn’t stop himself. As Charlie finally settled from her first orgasm with Alastor his expression seemed to intensify, and she quivered in place. It was sudden and rushed, when he pushed her back, so she fell to the table with a gasp, he had an animalistic grin as he descended upon her and the wet slap of him beginning to fuck her sounded out as she cried out in ecstasy. This was far harder and far rougher and she loved it. He raked his claws down her front, across her sides, he bit into her neck with as much force as he could muster. Charlie arched her back and cried out in pleasure. Alastor was frenzied, nothing he did left a mark, made a single scratch on her perfect skin. And he would have been screaming if he could have done so. As he pounded at her insides as he clawed at her breasts and neck as he bit frantically into her shoulder. Her legs lifted and were still locked around his waist, squeezing his sides, almost encouraging him to greater acts of depravity.

“F-Fuck A-Al, y-yes… y-yes!” She came again and this time he felt a gush of liquid flood up against him, he slammed into her and leant down to kiss her, biting her lip and tongue as they kissed back, nothing… it was leaving nothing. No red in his mouth or on her skin. If she was anyone else, anyone else! Alastor would have killed them, rent them open with his claws and torn open their throats. Charlie wasn’t anyone… Charlie was the daughter of a fallen angel. She was an innocence that he wanted to break open and taint, but she could not be broken by him and it frustrated Alastor to the point of insanity, but at the same time, he knew he would never be able to leave her. As the relentless fucking continued, as she was rocked on her back by each solid thrust and each gasping screaming the past her lips she was clawing at his chest, and her own nails were trailing red down his body, Alastor would have laughed if he could, she was clawing him open whilst she screamed and cried for more. The irony was beautiful and he would have proclaimed love for her right then and there if he was able to. Her entire body was covered in sweat and she continuously bucked and was rocked by him, Alastor bent over as she squeezed him once more with her insides, as the floods of pleasure passed through her body. She was panting so badly her hair had cascaded everywhere but that look, oh god that look she gave him, pleading with her eyes, she wanted to be claimed by him, to have him stain her with his seed. As Charlie’s clawed nails dragged past his abdomen she tried to sit up to want to be close to him again, Alastor grabbed her by the shoulders digging his claws into her as she pulled herself up and he let her rest just on the edge of the table as she clawed at his back again and kissed him. She was gasping, every other cry would be his name and he felt her tensing around him once more. He felt her kissing into his neck and her two small fangs digging into his skin with a delicate and sweet pain, he hit a special spot inside her and she gasped and bit down, Alastor could feel the two pinpricks she left behind, the small dribble of red that escaped him, she was bleeding him, and he wanted her to. Alastor couldn’t keep this up, he couldn’t and then she spoke out the words.

“C-Cum in me, p-please…” She wanted to be his as much as he wanted to make her his. His shoulder blades tensed as he released inside her, eyes locked onto her face as she felt him tensing and each long powerful squirt that was slowly filling her up. She locked her legs tightly around him, unwilling for him to even contemplate pulling out as her nails dug down deep into the grey skin on his back and Alastor’s twitched as he felt the sting drag down. She wasn’t there all the way and one of her hands that clutched onto him quickly released to play with the top of her womanhood in a frantic spiral motion, it was only a few moments and Alastor winced as his sensitive flesh was squeezed once more, completely emptying him in its wet embrace. 

Both of them were panting, both starting straight into each other’s eyes and their lips found each other as they kissed long and slowly. What they had done would never be undone, and Charlie wanted to remember their first time forever. But there wasn’t a single thought in her mind that could tell her differently, she was Alastor’s now, and she would do anything he asked of her, Alastor believed Charlie to be the only thing in hell he could never grow bored with. Even now, after the all the rough sex that they had just partook, she still had that beauty and light surrounding her, like an aura and he would crawl on hands and knees to beg her to stay with him, it was a light that he never wanted to be without. 

“W-We, should probably get dressed, I don’t know how long that was…” Alastor nodded and Charlie slowly slid off of him. Now void of her warmth he felt cold, and as Charlie stood up he pulled her into a careful and gentle embrace. She wrapped arms around him and held him, her whole slightly damp body pressed up against his and she looked up at his face with such a cherishingly warm smile. 

“That was amazing Alastor…” He leant down and kissed her cheek. As Charlie lowered herself to start gathering her clothes, slipping them back on Alastor did the same, Charlie wiped her face of sweat with her inside lining of her jacket before putting it back on. She tried her best to do her hair, but without a brush she wasn’t going to make much progress. 

“A deals a deal…” she reached into her pocket and pulled out a small spool of copper wire and a razor blade in a tiny plastic sheet. She paused for a moment and then handed them over to Alastor who pocketed them quickly.

“Please be careful, don’t let any guard see them… I won't be able to protect you from Vaggie.” Alastor nodded. 

Charlie paused and then grabbed Alastor’s arm and held him tightly. 

“I want to do this again, as often as we can… would you want to?” she looked up at him with those delicate eyes, of course he nodded, you couldn’t stop him from wanting to see her again. He would imagine her face and beauty most nights in his cell, although not tonight… tonight he had something that needed to be built. 

***

Laying still under the blanket he had rolled onto his side as his collection of pieces of junk sat in the space between his chest and legs as he was curled up, the perfect place to hide what he was doing from the all spying cameras. This might take a few hours, but once he started he had to commit. Everyone else had gone to sleep even Cherri had drifted off. 

A toilet roll tube with a coil of wire tightly across and cable leading from it spliced into the razor blade with a pencil with cable shoved through it, a crude diode that led to a metal cup with the crystal tied off to its metal base that led back off to the other side of the coil of wire, the whole thing was grounded against the metal bed frame and there was the foil wrapped in two tight tubes to form a capacitor. The remaining cable was used for the antenna. The final piece the tuning bar, a fork with all but one prong removed so it could run the length of the coil to find the frequency. 

It was a crude crystal radio but, it could work. Now came the painstaking part, to gently place the fork against a section of wire and move the lead across the razor blade and pull the capacitor in and out looking for a weak signal.and Alastor strained against the metal cup to hear something, nothing… he moved the fork across a fraction of a space and started again. Again and again he did this, never moving in his bed for risk of resetting his progress. 

Nothing, Nothing… NOTHING! 

He needed this to work tonight, but if he got anxious or desperate he might miss something, slow breathing and next place along. Touching the lead to the razor blade there was a tiny noise. Alastor froze and left the diode in its place. Hands trembling slightly he started to slide the capacitor in and out and then he heard it, faint as a whisper and something he had missed for so very long, a male voice was singing. 

**_Stay down here where you belong_ **

**_The folks who live above you don't know right from wrong_ **

**_To please their king, they've all gone out to war_ **

**_And not of one of them knows what he's fighting for_ **

**_Way up above they say that I'm a devil and I'm bad_ **

**_Kings up there are bigger devils than your dad_ **

**_They're breaking the hearts of mothers, making butchers of their brothers_ **

**_You'll find more heat up there than there is down below_ **

Alastor’s eyes suddenly blared with light and turned into tiny dials that started spinning at a mad pace in his head.

“Al… you alright?” Cherri had woken up and was calling out.

“I’m fine my dear, how are you?” 

  
  
Cherri fell out of bed. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song Lyrics: Irving Berlin Stay Down Here Where You Belong 


	12. I'm Telling on You!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alastor explains his lack of voice to his cellmates and attempts to talk to Charlie.

There was a stumble, a flailing of limbs and Cherri stood up gripping onto Alastor’s bunk frame and staring at him wide-eyed.

“Y-You can talk!” She barely whispered out, trying not to wake Arackniss you had grumbled something and turned over in his sleep, disturbed by the sound of Cherri hitting the floor. 

“I can, is it so surprising that the radio demon can talk?” Cherri grinned

“You sound so hoity-toity!” Alastor rolled his eyes.

“Correct enunciation was essential in my work Cherri.” Her head dipped slightly out of sight as she bobbed her knees in excitement.

“Say somethin’ dirty!” She was grinning like a schoolgirl as she blinked at him. Alastor sighed.

“It’s been a long day, and I would rather like to try and sleep.” Cherri didn’t know the half of it, apart from the mental strain of trying to adjust his delicate radio, his body ached from what he and Charlie had done early that day. He actually needed sleep to help recover. Cherri was pouting at him.

“Come on! One little thing and I’ll leave you alone! I want to go back to bed too!” He wasn’t going to win and he knew it.

“... Fine, what do you wish me to say.” Cherri had to clamp a hand over her mouth to stop loudly giggling.

“Tell me I’ve been naughty and you’re gunna have to punish me!” Her smile was ear to ear. Alastor blinked at her and sighed, he was never going to hear the end of this. 

“Very well… Cherri Bomb, I have been very displeased with your recent behaviour, and now you’ve forced me to discipline you. I won’t be gentle.” Cherri chewed her bottom lip and blinked.

“That’s gunna go straight in the wank bank.” Oh great, voice back and he’s already performing cheap tricks like a dancing monkey. Cherri moved back and clambered back into her bunk. She wriggled back into her old warm patch and glanced over at Alastor who had closed his eyes attempting to rest. 

He did have a very sexy voice, not at all like what she imagined, she was going to have so much fun messing with him now. Alastor lay there silently, he was just pretending to sleep to avoid earning more of Cherri’s attention. His plans needed to change, Charlie had forced him to change them, he was not disloyal, he might be many things… many monstrous things but when he actually gave his word and meant it, his loyalty was to a few creatures but Charlie had managed to sneak her way inside his guard and he had grown a soft spot for her, and a bunch of other very confusing emotions that surfaced during their intimacy. 

The original plan was simple enough, get his voice back by building a radio then he would have bound Cherri to himself, before beginning to teach her the very first incantations for summoning shadows. Then they could plan an escape attempt. He couldn’t do it without his voice, the inflections of how each of the words of power sounded were ancient and in a strange language meant it was all but impossible to spell using Morse Code

Just like how he had first started to learn as he studied spirits and black magic when he was alive. It changed with him in death and he could do it with a thought and a flick of his hand, well he used to be able to until Lucifer chained him. But now, he knew that it was in fact going to be with Charlie that his salvation would come, and the fact that she was Lucifer’s daughter meant that perhaps things could still work out well.

When they next saw each other Alastor was going to tell her the truth…

***

Charlie had never slept so well in years, it was just the morning that was upsetting, she had dreamed of Alastor and waking up had instinctively reached to cuddle into his side, he wasn’t there and she blinked her eyes open before remembering that he didn’t live with her, he was still in her facility and she was alone in a bed too big for one. 

“Shit.” She rolled over to lay on her back and stare at the ceiling, she had to take a few deep breaths as her lip quivered. What a strange thing to get this upset over, he was going to die because of the things he had done, it was decided. In half a year or just under now, he would be gone and Charlie would have to wonder what the rest of her immortality would be like without him, his smile… his eyes. Oh fuck, she clutched at her face and rolled over to her side and sobbed into her hands. 

She had very little experience with love, her home was loveless, Lucifer was an emotionally distant creature and his wife was always behind him, subservient and quiet. Her life growing up was isolated and lonely, sure it was a damned sight better than the rest of hell, but she didn’t really experience what love and care was. Her first few relationships had shown her exactly how badly her need for emotional validation had become, she had been emotional abused and bullied by several partners for years before she realized that she needed to believe in herself more, it was around the same time she had met Vaggie, what a strong-willed woman, they had started to work together and during quiet periods in the facility Vaggie would take the time to talk to Charlie about self-respect, it had helped her understand what she wanted, and not to be suckered into another abuser. 

She had almost thought about asking Vaggie out on a date, but decided against it. She felt that Vaggie had helped her to be a better person so falling into her arms seemed to cheapen what she had learnt from her, she had stayed single ever since, with countless disastrous dates under her belt.

Now though, when her thoughts turned to Alastor, it was a warmness that seemed to spread in her stomach, and the thoughts of being separated from him hurt. Was this love? She pined for him, his company, his touch. It was making her irrational, surely Vaggie had noticed, but Charlie didn’t care. If their time was going to be limited she would spend all the time she could with him. To hell with whoever found out. Managing to calm her breathing she got up and moved over to wash the tears from her face.

She risked a glance at her puffy eyes, the tear stains on her cheeks.

“What would Al say if he saw you like this Charlie?” She laughed to herself.

“Nothing, he doesn’t talk…” He might embrace her to cheer her up, kiss her forehead and tilt her face to look up at his eyes. She wanted all these things, how much she wanted him. Charlie let out a ragged breath and turned the tap so hot water began to flow out as she wet a flannel and started to scrub the dirt and sleep from her face. 

Today was going to be an emotional one. 

***

“ So why did you lose your voice?” Cherri, Alastor and Arackniss were sat alone on the bunks, taking a moment to share private words out of ear shot from other inmates. Arackniss had asked the question that Cherri was about to and Alastor pondered the best way to explain it. He tapped his fingers together.

“I present myself using radio, I need them to talk, I can hold a signal for a few days without one, but after that.” Alastor shook his head.

“Normally, I can summon my staff to me, and that keeps everything working… but with my magic like it is, my voice disappears.” Arackniss frowned.

“But surely, when you first arrived here you had only just been captured?” Alastor smile hardened on his face.

“Lucifer took more than just my magic… He wanted me thoroughly broken.” 

“What the fuck did you do to piss him off so bad?” Cherri looked at Alastor who just shook his head, unwilling to talk about it further and she huffed and folded her arms. 

“Fine, keep ya secrets.” Alastor blinked, it was safer if he didn’t, if he started talking word might reach Lucifer sooner and then he would be in real trouble… he was still stuck in a prison after all. Arackniss rubbed his dark fur on his face and sighed out. 

“This is gettin’ into all kinds of shit that’s way above me… fucking magic and Lucifer… I was just a gangster damn it…” Alastor smile twitched.

“Don’t worry my friend, we’ll all end up dead by the same end if we don’t figure something out.” Arackniss rolled his eyes.

“It’s a waste of time trying to escape, it just gets you hurt, least we’re comfortable here.” Cherri let out a laugh.

“Maybe for you! But I want out… I’ve still got shit I want to do!” Arackniss rolled his eyes.

“Oh, yeah? Like what?” Cherri suddenly became very flustered and she got up.

“Shut up, that’s what!” She huffed off and Arackniss tilted her head. 

“The fuck was that about?” Alastor shrugged, before leaving his cell he made sure the radio had been gently covered by his blanket. He didn’t know how long he could keep this hidden, but for now it was his gateway to talking. There was a klaxon that blared out and he heard one of the guards by the gate shouting.

“Alastor! GET OUT HERE!” He got up and wandered to the exit and glanced about, in the main hall the gate had been opened and Charlie was standing there looking imperious, what a strange surprise, he had expected a couple of days at least before she would want to see him again. As he went to move forward a hand caught his side and Cherri appeared out of nowhere.

“You alright? They don’t know do they?” She looked visibly worried at him. Alastor shook his head, not wanting to start speaking in front of everyone yet. Cherri’s hand squeezed him slightly and she let go.

“Just be careful, alright Al? Whose voice is going to get me to squirt otherwise?” She stuck her tongue at him as he rolled his eyes and sighed. She was never going to change, and that didn’t bother him one bit. Cherri stepped back and watched the back of Alastor approach the guards and Charlie waiting for him, she gave a small smile as he approached and greeted him, Cherri narrowed her eye, there was something off about the way she was standing there. Charlie was hiding something, and she wasn’t a very good liar, Cherri folded her arms and frowned. 

“Somethin’ stinks here.” 

“Hello Alastor, as per our early review I think we can make the best progress if we have regular discussions about our previous topics, so here I am, thank you for being so understanding.” her voice sounded out with clarity, and was all an act for the guards who didn’t seem to bat an eye at the information. Either way she led Alastor off and as soon as they were out of earshot she spoke out quietly. 

“I couldn’t keep away from you… there’s so many cameras here otherwise I’d hold your hand.” Alastor smiled to himself just behind Charlie, what a wholesome thing, holding hands with a princess, laughable? Absolutely not for he would enjoy it too. When they entered their room Charlie closed the door and moved straight over to wrap her arms around his middle and pulled herself into a tight hug. Alastor ran fingers through her hair and she lifted her head to stare at his eyes before going on her tip toes so he didn’t need lean down and captured his lips in a quick kiss.

“I really missed you in my bed last night, I wish there was a way to spend a night together…” Alastor let out a sigh.

“My darling doe…” Charlie’s eyes went wide as Alastor’s voice filled her ears and she spluttered.

“A-Al? You can talk!?” Me smiled softy at her.

“I found my voice, thanks to you.” Charlie’s eyes were wide with wonder and she kissed him again and wrapped hands around the back of his neck as she leant into it.

“What was that you called me? Darling Doe… is that your nickname for me?” Alastor nodded,

“Do you not like it?” A red glow spread across Charlie’s cheeks and she shook her head.

“No, I love it… so does that make you my handsome stag then?” 

“If you would like…” 

“I would, I want something else too…” She started to kiss at his neck, as if her intentions weren’t already clear enough. Alastor raised his hands and gently separated them and Charlie looked slightly put out,

“My dear, Can I talk to you first?” Charlie paused and then nodded, looking concerned that she might have overstepped. 

“Of course you can, sorry I get a little carried away.” Alastor moved across the room and sat in the chair and Charlie sat in the one opposite him and softly smiled at that handsome face, the man who had already come up with an adorable nickname for her. She was his little doe, and Charlie loved the thought. 

“I need your help…” Charlie nodded and kept her smile as she stared into his eyes.

“Of course, what is it?” 

“I need to leave this place.” Her smile died, and her heart clenched in her chest.

“You can’t ask that Alastor, that’s something I can never do… don’t ever ask me that.” Alastor brow furrowed but he tried to explain.

“But-” Charlie cut him off.

“No buts, if you thought what we have meant I could get you out… well you were wrong! I can’t!” Oh no, Alastor could see it, she was starting to close off, the light behind those eyes was disappearing and he needed to try and salvage this before she shut him out and left.

“Please, listen to me!” Charlie shook her head.

“No! You listen! You can’t **ever** ask me that! You’re here because of what you did! Do you have any idea how badly I wished we could have met outside these walls? Every night! Every fucking night! You attacked Overlords Alastor, you attacked them! So you had to end up here…”

“ I didn’t attack them, I defended myself from them…” Charlie’s eyes went wide and she shook her head.

“No that’s not what your file says, that’s not what my father said!”

“Lucifer lied, he wants me gone… I found something that he feels threatened by and so he sent his minions after me, I defended myself and fought my way through their lair trying to get them to stop, is it the same if its self-defence?” 

“That’s not possible! My dad doesn’t do that! The Overlords do business with others, its why you can’t attack them, they keep things running in the city, they don’t go around attacking people that’s why we built this place… to keep order!” 

“This place was built because it allowed Lucifer to get rid of people he didn’t want around without stirring the pot.” Charlie stood up and she looked angry.

“You’re wrong Alastor! What we do here is for the betterment of the city! Don’t lie about my father!” Alastor went to get up, to go over and attempt to calm her down but Charlie all but screamed at him.

“Stay sat down!” Alastor froze and then complied. 

“I can’t deal with this… I can’t deal with you right now… fucking damn it! Alastor why did you have to ask me that?” She looked once at him before she suddenly left the room and the door slammed behind her, there was a click and the door was locked. Alastor let out a low sigh and rubbed his hands over his face.

That couldn’t have gone much worse, it was five minutes later when the door opened and Alastor looked up hopefully only to have the smile freeze on his face as two guards entered to drag him back to the cell block.

***

Charlie was sat in her office staring unseeing at the paper in front of her on her desk, worry was crawling around her insides, that and fear. Fear that Alastor was just playing her to try and win his freedom, no… what they had couldn’t have been built on lies could it? Everyone had told her never to trust Alastor, to lock him up and throw away the key, but she just couldn’t… even now, he was on her mind. He had tried to talk to her and she just shut him out. She cupped hands to her face and breathed out hard. Her heart was telling her one thing, and her head was screaming something else. She didn’t know what to believe any more. 

She needed to know the truth, and there was only one way she was going to find it out… she had to speak with her father, tonight. The day didn’t seem to pass by in a flash or drag on, Charlie was numb to the passage of time, she hated everything about herself right now and just wished for things to be simple again, before she met Alastor… before she fell in love with him, fell in love with a man who hadn’t spoken a single word to her until today. Maybe she was naive, maybe she didn’t learn anything and still had a terrible choice in men.

She spotted Niffty and Husk again, the small demon was handing him a brown paper bag that looked like it contained a lunch and kissed him on the cheek before turning to leave. Charlie’s heart hurt, she was never going to get that, was she? It was night shift time and everyone was leaving, she mumbled her goodbye’s to Vaggie and moved out into the streets and the night air that even in hell was hot and dry. She moved towards the building that could be seen from every angle of the city with trudging steps.

Lucifer’s palace. 

She didn’t get stopped by the guards who opened the gates for her automatically, and she moved towards the great dark obsidian edifice that represented Lucifer’s rule, eternal and unyielding. It’s great dark spires twisted and spread into the sky and by its base you could hardly see the top as it stretched up and up as if it was attempting to claw at the heavens. 

“Home, sweet home…” She spoke darkly to no one. She was greeted by the steps of the palace by a royal housekeeper, an imp in a very sharp black suit. He bowed low to her.

“Princess Charlotte, what an honoured visit, what do we owe this pleasure?” Charlie sighed.

“I need to see dad…” There was a pause,

“Do you have an appointment?” Charlie rolled her eyes.

“No, just take me to him…” The imp seemed to flinch.

“Very well, but you will have to wait, he’s currently entertaining…” 

“Yeah… whatever.” Charlie stepped inside and followed the smartly dressed imp. He led her straight through the tall grand entrance, whose ceiling was concealed in black darkness and crystal intricate chandeliers hung, illuminating the space with flickering light. The corridors were wide and tall, grand as the finest building, Lucifer liked to show off, he was a boastful creature. Soon they were by doors that led to the infernal kings throne room and Charlie rolled her eyes and sneered in disgust, so that’s what he was doing. 

Even through the large doors you could hear the frantic screaming of a woman in the throes of intimacy, and it certainly wasn’t her mother. Charlie walked up and leant against a wall and waited, trying to shut out the noises that were bleeding through, she gritted her teeth, as the minutes dragged on, she hated this… hated that her father did this. It felt like a betrayal of trust and she didn’t know why her mother was so okay with it. Finally, eventually they quietened down and there was silence for a few minutes before the large doors opened and you could hear the tapping of shoes as Katie Killjoy walked straight past without looking back, a smile plastered over her face as she straightened her skirt down, and why with that bitch? 

“I’ll announce your arrival.” Charlie shrugged and waited. The doors eventually opened and she was allowed in, a dark marble floor that was polished to look like the night sky that lead up to a stepped dais on top of which, a throne that seemed to be made out of jagged dark iron twisting in agonizing shapes, the infernal throne and sat upon it. Her father, white suited and with that placid smile he always wore when he dealt with his daughter. He didn’t get up but called out to her.

“Charlotte, daughter… what do I owe this unannounced visit?” Charlie moved in so she was at the base of the steps leading to the throne and looked up at him.

“Hey dad, I wanted to ask you something.” 

“What is it Charlotte? You know I’m very busy.”

Busy fucking whores perhaps…

“I wanted to ask you about The radio demon?” She couldn’t be sure but there was almost a twitch in the corner of Lucifer’s mouth.

“What about him?”

“I just wanted to check something about his file, so he attacked some Overlords.” Lucifer nodded.

“Yes, tore apart the operations and gutted them, both figuratively and literally.” Charlie paused and looked up at his yellow eyes.

“But why did he do it?” Lucifer frowned slightly.

“Because he is an insane, deranged individual, and wants nothing more than to upset the balance of my city.” Charlie nodded.

“Of course, it’s just he said something else…” Lucifer’s eyes flashed.

“Said?” 

“Yeah, just about the Overlords attacking him.” Lucifer had got up and started to descend the steps towards his daughter.

“He is a liar and attempting to manipulate you for sympathy… Did he say anything else?” Charlie blinked and then shook her head.

“No.” Lucifer gave her a soft look,

“You see daughter, this is why I suggested he be taken to solitary immediately, he’s got inside your head…”

“B-But he hasn’t done anything wrong in our prison yet.” Lucifer smiled at her.

“My sweet daughter, ever the compassionate soul aren’t you… How long have you run that facility for me now? Fifty or Sixty years?” Charlie paused and thought.

“Fifty Eight this year.” Lucifer nodded and was standing right in front of her.

“Fifty eight years of wonderful service. I’m so very proud of you.” Charlie’s heart froze, she was a bit clumsy at times, an airhead others, she liked children’s cartoons and singing stupid songs in the shower. But she was an observant woman, and she saw when her father had lied to people, he wore the same disarming smile every time, that same smile that was staring right at her. He was lying to her, she swallowed hard.

“I think that you deserve a holiday, I imagine managing all these terrible souls can be pretty exhausting, especially if you have the likes of Alastor inside that place right now, tell you what… Why don’t you let your father run things for a little bit? Go out and enjoy yourself for a couple of weeks. I know Lilith keeps on asking when you're going to introduce us to a boyfriend or girlfriend.” He let out a laugh and gave Charlie a hug as she fumbled returning it. 

“O-Okay, dad… thanks.” She blinked at that smiling face looking at her, and she put all of her being in leaving without collapsing, without him finding out that she knew. He had never once said he was proud of her, he tried too hard with his lie and it burned away at her as she left. As the doors shut behind and Lucifer was alone his smile dropped instantly and he lazily reached out a phone out of his pocket and dialled it holding it to his face.

“Vox? Tomorrow morning I need you for a job.” 


	13. I Quit!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Charlie hands in her resignation in a rather noticeable way.

Everything was numb, everything was wrong. She got back to her apartment somehow, walked straight to the kitchen and grabbed the wine in the fridge her hands shook so much she broke the wine glass, slamming it on the table. She blinked at it for a few seconds and then just tore the top off the wine bottle before drinking straight from it, of course it didn’t help her feel better and the bottle sailed through the air as it smashed against the wall, the dark red staining straight up the cream wall and down onto the floor. 

Charlie fell to her knees and screamed clutching desperately at her hair. How many? How many souls had she condemned just because her father wanted them gone… not because they had done anything wrong. The pain was unreal. All she ever wanted to do was help… she just wanted to help the people of her city, the city she grew up in and now she found out that she would have hurt people just because they upset her dad? They would have been terrified and screaming as the exterminators claimed them, because of Charlie. Her hands shook as she stared at them, they should be stained red with the blood on her hands. Screaming out she sobbed and wailed on the floor. Her own father had betrayed her, he didn’t care about her at all, only keeping his empire how he wanted it. How he had a dutiful daughter carrying out his business for him, quietly in the background so she couldn’t embarrass him. 

Her sobs turned to dry heaving as she collapsed completely on the floor, Charlie mourned for the lost souls, how many were lobotomized, how many drugged and left to die, over and over until their souls were destroyed, it’s all she could think about. She didn’t deserve to be here, she didn’t deserve her freedom. Any now her father knew Alastor was talking about things and he had put her on leave, her eyes snapped completely open and she gasped in place. Alastor! He didn’t know what she had done, Lucifer was going to do something, do something to him to keep him quiet.

“F-FUCK!” She was about to lose the man she had fallen for because she had opened her mouth to her father… because she had trusted the wrong man. Everything around her, her nice place, nice things... everything was built on the suffering of those that didn’t deserve it, all so her dad and his buddies could lord it over ever soul in this place. If it took her a thousand lifetimes, Charlie would make it up to them, she would make this right, it was a wordless promise.

It started tonight, she was going to save Alastor from a fate he did not deserve, and she was going to show the world that she was not her fathers daughter, she expelled the remaining air in her lungs, before shakily sitting up, she took a deep breath in.

“C-Crying’s not going to h-help Al…” She struggled but managed to get to her feet, She staggered to the bathroom and washed around her face. She wouldn’t let anything happen to him, not her handsome stag. Charlie pulled out her phone looked at it and then snapped the thin smartphone in half and let the pieces fall to the floor. She left quickly, and just abandoned her apartment, the door still open, she doubted she would be coming back to it any time soon, if ever. She wouldn’t live like this, couldn’t live like this. Charlie had always followed her heart, it had led her here… faced with the truth, and she was going to make a statement.

***

She was glad it was the middle of the night, as she approached the entrance to the prison, the building of nothing but lies and torturous deceit. She hated it, staring at its dark concrete walls, she hated everything about it, the years she spent here, thinking she was doing good work, nothing was real here. Charlie entered the admin building with her key card and took a deep breath as her hands had begun to shake. All the regular workers weren’t here, Vaggie wasn’t here, thank hells she wasn’t, Charlie didn’t know how to tell her, she didn’t even know who Vaggie would believe, but she hoped she still trusted Charlie. The only remaining guards were all on Lucifer’s payroll, they just took orders from Charlie and she felt no love loss for them, they were probably just as culpable since they made the arrests but they were all Lucifer’s dogs. It only left one person Charlie actually cared about who would be working and she hurried as quick as she could.

Husk had pulled out the sandwich Niffty had prepared for him and stared at it, in the slice of bread she had burnt a love heart on its surface. Husk sighed and took a bite, that demon really put in the effort to try to make him feel special and he just felt awful that this sort of crap didn’t come to him naturally. Talk about feeling out of his league, she was cute, friendly… put in effort to make him things, she wanted him to be happy, as foolish as that was, and holy hell the sex. He hadn’t had this much sex ever, even combining all of his previous relationships, in hell or alive! There didn’t seem to be any stops on that train either, Niffty wanted to be with him constantly and Husk would have assumed that either he would have got sick of it or Niffty would have lost interest… but she didn’t, and he hadn’t. In fact in a strange silly way, he had started to hope that this one, maybe. Could help him learn to care again.

“H-Husk?” The cat blinked, and he turned in his chair, Charlie was half standing in the doorway staring at him, but something was very wrong, she didn’t look right at all. He put his food down.

“Charlie, what are you doing here? It’s like three in the morning…” She was staring wide at him and then she smiled and sniffed as tears started to stream down her face. Oh, what the fuck was this? He wasn’t a therapy cat, holy hell why did people think it was okay to cry around him.

“Y-You need to g-go…” Husk blinked.

“The fuck you talking about, have you been drinking?” Charlie moved slightly into the room and Husk’s eyes went wide, why was she dragging a fire axe with her? He quickly threw his hands up.

“Woah, woah… What’s going on Charlie?” She sniffed and tilted her head.

“I’m so sorry… you’ve just got together with Niffty, you don’t deserve this, but I need to do this, I’m so sorry.” She wasn’t stepping closer and Husk’s initial thoughts that he was about to get murdered where starting to pass.

“What are you doing Charlie?” She let out a choking cry and shook her head.

“D-Do you know where Niffty lives?” Husk gave her a long stare.

“Sure… why?” 

“Don’t go home, go to hers… leave now. If I can I’ll come and see you both, you both deserve to be safe… Stay away from my father…”

“Charlie?” She just shook her head and pointed.

“Get out!” Husk uncertainly shifted forward and passed Charlie, she moved forward into the room without a second glance at Husk before loading up the camera’s and checking. Good Alastor was still in his cell, she wasn’t too late.

***

Alastor’s eyes snapped open when the first blood-curdling scream sounded out and he sat up quickly. There was a loud thump as Cherri had fallen out of bed again, her head lifted off the ground in a dazed panic.

“The fuck was that?” Then there was another scream and the wet noises of something being hacked apart. Arackniss was up too, and all three of them were staring out into the dimly lit main hall of their cellblock, along with apparently ever other inmate judging by the murmurs and groggy noises of souls waking up. The gate to the main area opened up and a single figure entered, Arackniss squinted.

“Is that the Princess?” It was, she covered almost head to toe in blood as she dragged an axe behind her. Picking the thing up she ran as fast as she could straight towards their cell, both Arackniss and Cherri backed off but Alastor went straight to the cell bars as Charlie came into view, she was crying as she reached a hand through to clutch at him, red fingerprints staining his hair and neck.

“A-Al! I’m s-so sorry, I d-didn’t believe you!”

“My darling, It was a perfectly reasonable reaction… but what is all of this?” She broke into a wonky smile.

“I’m g-going to get y-you out… I’m g-going to s-save you! I c-can’t l-let my d-dad have you!” She desperately clutched to him and their faces pressed against the bars, not close enough to kiss but she held on tight for a few moments as she steadied her breathing. 

“I can’t just open one cell, the block needs to be open, but if I do that the rest of the guards are going to come down here… I have a plan but you need to do what I say okay?” Alastor nodded then paused.

“I need the others to come with me.” Cherri couldn’t help but smile, he hadn’t forgotten her, Arackniss could only blink with his mouth open at the gore soaked princess talking about busting Alastor out of this place.

“That’s fine, listen, as soon as the gate opens run straight for the exit and take the second left, I’ll be a bit behind you but wait at the door there it takes you down to solitary and that’ll be our way out!” 

“Be careful.” Charlie pulled away and shook her head.

“Too late for that… your little doe will see you soon.” She ran off, axe clutched in her hands. Cherri was the first to speak.

“The fuck was that? And I don’t just mean that was Princess Charlotte covered in blood holding an axe talkin’ about breakin’ us out. But WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT!?” Alastor let out a sigh.

“She will prefer you use Charlie when you speak to her, it seems she found out the truth about why I was sent here… we recently became quite involved with each other.” Cherri blinked and tilted her head.

“The fuck does that mean?” Arackniss rolled his eyes.

“It means they’ve been sleeping with each other.” Cherri almost choked on a lungful of air.

“You fuckin’ serious?” Alastor nodded and winced as Cherri started laughing. 

“So what does a princess taste like?” Alastor rolled his eyes.

“Don’t see that’s any of your business.” Cherri scoffed.

“Do you have any idea how pissed I am about this?” Alastor raised an eyebrow at her. She waved her arms around.

“We should have totally  **actually** fucked before! Not going to get my chance am I now? Wait... you don’t think Charlie’s into threesomes, do you? Then you can do a side by side taste test…” Arackniss mashed his face with a pillow and groaned and Alastor turned ignoring the comment and facing back out towards the cell block.

“WHAT? I’m just sayin’!” She shrugged. “Least I got to look at your dick whilst you were sleepin’.” Alastor head almost snapped a one-eighty degree turn as he stared at her and she threw her hands up.

“Kiddin’, kiddin’ Sheesh!” 

***

She prayed she wouldn’t run into more guards, her arms were fatigued and she couldn’t bear another fight, she had grabbed the laptop located at the guards' office just off the cellblock and was running with it to get to the basement, there shouldn’t be any checkpoints to get there, not at night anyway. Throwing open the door she dashed down the flight of stairs, straight to the main switchboard. She frantically threw open the laptop and signed in with her credentials.

“Come on, come on!” She loaded up her security console and took a deep breath and initiated the exterminator protocols. When the Angels would descend to slaughter everyone in the building they ran the program and emptied the building of staff, it opened and disengaged all the locks in the place so the Angels wouldn’t damage the infrastructure cleansing the place. But Klaxons all across the building sounded, they would turn it off in an instant to keep the inmates safely locked up. She hefted the axe up and swung it hard straight into the main fusebox and the entire thing detonated and it threw her across the room and her head slammed against the wall. 

All throughout the building locks disengaged and gates slid open, then the entire place was thrown into pitch-black as the power cut out. Alastor Grabbed hold of Cherri and Arackniss and ran forward pulling them along, other inmates who weren’t quite as ready had only just started to emerge as Alastor ran past the gated exit and over the two mutilated guards that Charlie had left in her wake… what a woman, no wonder he was in love. 

Running down the second left corridor there was another two guards at the end clearly confused about what was going on. Alastor let go of both Cherri and Arackniss and ran forward before leaping at them, they hadn’t expected him and Alastor easily tore the throat out of the first one before slipping in behind the other and pulling the chain of his manacles around his neck against its throat and pulled for all he was worth before he heard a very satisfying snap. It would be a day before they regenerated from that. 

“Hells Al, you got a killer in ya, don’t ya?” Cherri let out a whistle and jumped over the body so she didn’t get blood on her shoes.

“Where’s Charlie?” There was a scream and the princess appeared around the corner running as fast as her legs could carry her and then there was an unholy roar behind her as a gargantuan form of sinew and muscle was right behind her, its large skull capped with two branching bullhorns. And it looked like it was seeing red, well Charlie was covered in blood. 

“CHANGE OF PLANS, CHANGE OF PLANS! HUG THE FUCKING WALLS!” Charlie was sprinting down towards them as the Minotaur chased after her, it was so bulky that it could only really run in the dead centre of the corridor and even then its horns were gouging grooves out of the wall. You didn’t need to tell them twice and all three of them hugged into the wall as Charlie barrelled past them being chased by the heaving behemoth. Alastor suddenly paused and wondered what Charlie’s plan was until she got to the end of the corridor, by the lift that led down to solitary and turned. 

“Come and get me you big asshole!” The pounding of his hooves were leaving indentations in the floor and he lowered his head to gore her as his pace increased, Just as he was about to hit her Charlie dived into a slide and went straight under his legs, the momentum carried him straight forward, into the lift doors, through the lift doors, into the lift...through the lift and straight out the opposite wall. Leaving a trail of carnage, but with a hole straight to the outside world.

You could hear the shouts and screams all around them as a full-blown prison riot had started.

“Lets go let’s go!” She picked herself up and ran straight out the hole, the Minotaur seemingly had forgotten about her now that he realized he was back on the outside, and he had run off, leaving a hole in the perimeter wall as he went. With the others following her they ran straight out the newly formed exit their rather large friend had made and ran for it, straight into the city streets before dashing into an Alley to catch their breaths.

“H-Hi Charlie… t-thanks for savin’ us!” Cherri was panting and clutching at the stitch in her side, Arackniss was doubled over wheezing and gave the thumbs up, Alastor was perfectly fine and clearly in better shape than the lot of them, well Charlie was panting but looked relatively okay.

“Charlie… what was your original plan?” Charlie winced.

“Well, because of all the err, surgeries we performed down there, we needed to get rid of the ‘waste’ there’s a line to the sewers…” Cherri blinked.

“You mean if big and angry didn’t smash a wall down we would have been wading through hell’s shit to get out?” Charlie nodded.

“Fuck it, I’ve been in worse.” Alastor wanted to ask how, but held his tongue. Charlie continued.

“The entrances will be locked down, there would have been no way, but then I saw that guy busting out of maximum security so I got his attention, he really doesn’t like me…” 

“Isn’t that the sort of inmate that would have needed to go to solitary?” Charlie nodded.

“Oh, we tried but the bone drills we use couldn’t cut through his skull to perform the lobotomy… It just made him really, really angry.” 

“Fuckin’ hell… how the fuck did you catch him?” 

“Vaggie did it…” Cherri scowled.

“You mean that bitch that broke my teeth? Took days for them all to grow back! Hurt like a mother fucker!” Charlie shifted around.

“Sorry, she gets a bit worked up sometimes, she has anger issues, she’s been working on it recently…” Cherri stared in disbelief.

“That was ‘workin’ on it’ fuck!” Charlie looked around.

“Look, we need to get out of here before all the patrols get pulled in, anyone knows a place we can hide out.” Cherri paused and then nodded.

“Yeah… and that bitch better be happy to see me.” 

***

Lucifer strummed his fingers against the dark metal of his throne as he brooded, something wasn’t sitting right with him, his daughter should have kicked up more of a fuss about being put on vacation. Lucifer should have joined his wife in bed hours ago, he didn’t sleep but it was nice to relax in her soft embrace. His phone suddenly started buzzing and he pulled it out and looked curiously at it. Why was Vox calling him at this hour.

“What is it?” He held the phone to his ear.

“There’s been a riot at the prison, calls have been going out for reinforcements. We’re not to sure how many might have escaped.” Lucifer knew exactly one that would have escaped. 

“What have you done with the calls?” 

“Blocked them.”

“Good, meet me there, I’m dealing with this personally. Communicate with any guards still on site to give up all ground and just make sure the inmates can’t escape. Don’t let word get out.” 

“Of course.” Lucifer ended the call and his fingernails dragged down the side of his cheek, it flaked his skin as a dark black groove marked his face before it pulled itself back together to form the pristine white. 

“Daughter… what have you done?” He gripped the armrests of his throne for a second as he moved to get up, he was gone in a flash. In a matter of moments he had appeared outside the prison the sound of fighting could be heard from inside and Lucifer cracked his neck to one side. He was angry that he hadn’t dealt with Alastor in a more permanent manner to begin with, he was disappointed that his daughter had been so easily seduced by him and he was annoyed that Charlie had ruined his buzz after relieving himself inside of Katie. 

Everyone still inside this building was going to suffer for that. 


	14. Prison's End, Journey's begining.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alastor and the gang plan their next steps, Lucifer delves into a bit of damage control and the great game is assembled.

When Vox arrived, getting out of his tinted black windowed car, it was a mess. In the front yard there was the colossal muscle-bound body with hooves, it was missing its head. Just beyond was a ruin of carnage as pieces of bodies littered everywhere. The only things still moving were the remaining guards. They had rushed over to intercept him but upon recognizing him they bowed. 

“Lord Lucifer is waiting for you just inside.” Vox stepped past the giant corpse and over the rest of the pieces, and into the building, the bodies just kept on piling up and the electronic Overlord wondered if there were any inmates still alive. Lucifer was standing just inside looking immaculate but rather annoyed. Vox bowed as was tradition.

“I got here as quick as I could.”

“I know Vox, I needed to relieve some stress…” Vox took a look at the mangled bodies that littered everywhere. 

“Did you find?”

“My daughter is not amongst the dead, neither is the radio demon… Charlotte appears to have put an axe through the switchboard… fix it and then get to the security office, I want to know what happened!” Vox bowed his head again.

“At Once.” Vox hurried to move in the direction that one of the guards indicated, leaving Lucifer standing perfectly still surrounded by the carnage he had wrought in his rage, his hand twitched slightly.

“Where are you… you can’t be free of me that easily Alastor…” 

***

There was a knock and Charlie was unusually quiet, she knew exactly where they were but didn’t want to say anything. Cherri frowned and knocked again louder.

“THE FUCK!? ITS FOUR IN THE FUCKIN’ MORNIN’!” Angel’s shouts could be heard from inside. Cherri rolled her eye and knocked again, half battering the door. You could hear Angel’s enraged yelling.

“THAT’S FUCKIN’ IT, IF I OPEN THIS FUCKIN’ DOOR AND YOU’RE STILL THERE IM GOING TO SHOOT YOU IN YOUR FUCKIN’ FACE.” The door slammed open, and Angel was standing there wearing a bathrobe and clutching his tommy gun, looked like his threat was real. But when his groggy face saw Cherri standing there, his gun slipped from his grasp and clattered to the floor. It looked like he had seen a ghost.

“C-Cherri?” Cherri gave him a grin.

“What up, slut.” Angel threw himself around her in such a tight hug, his extra arms grabbing her tight and there were tears in his eyes.

“I didn’t think I was ever gunna see you again!” Cherri tried to play it cool but her eye was starting to shimmer as she wrapped her arms around his shaking shoulders.

“Me? Naah, I’ve broken outta worse places…” Angel laughed and sniffed loudly.

“You’re such a bad fuckin’ liar…” Arackniss rolled his eyes.

“Family don’t get this treatment I see?” Angel almost did a double take.

“Is that you ‘Niss?” the dark haired spider gave him a thumbs up and finger guns.

“The one and only Angie, now bring it in, don’t make me look like a wuss for hugging you.” Angel laughed and grabbed hold of his brother and rubbed their heads together.

“H-How, how are both of you here?” Arackniss shrugged.

“Prison break, we had help…” Alastor appeared in view with a blood soaked Charlie holding his hand. Charlie spoke first,

“Hi, I’m Charlie… nice to meet you.” Angel titled his head.

“Have we met before?” Charlie flinched a fraction and shook her head.

“Nope, don’t think so…” Charlie was pleading that he wouldn't remember, not now. Angel’s eyes drifted up to the man she was holding onto and stared at him.

“You’re the radio demon… I’ve seen your picture in the news a lot… you gunna fuckin’ eat us?” Cherri let out a snort.

“Fat chance, I’ve been tryin’ to get him to eat me out for ages…” Angel’s face froze and he turned his head to slowly look at Cherri. She shrugged.

“What he don’t care, and I figure I’ll wear him out eventually.” Alastor gave her a smile.

“Won’t happen my dear.” Cherri gave him a dangerous smile.

“Not yet…” Arackniss groaned.

“Angie, I’ve been living with this for weeks, it's been fucking hell.” Angel laughed and stood to one side.

“Well since you’re all outlaws better get in quick…” They all filed inside, Charlie spoke out.

“Er Angel, I don’t suppose you have some clothes I could have and if I could get a shower… I don’t want to get blood everywhere…” Angel looked her up and down it looked like someone had been dropped in a wood chipper in front of her.

“Yeah sure… just in there, I’ll get you some clothes, think I got my comfy hangover shit, that should fit you…” Charlie gave a weak smile and moved into the bathroom and shut the door. Alastor paused.

“I’m going to go make sure she’s okay.” Cherri raised her eyebrow at him.

“Uh-huh, well after you’re done checkin’ to make sure she’s ‘okay’ don’t forget to wash it off.” Alastor shook his head at the comment and moved into the bathroom and gently opened the door, Charlie let off a little squeal as she was half undressed already, but then calmed at seeing Alastor’s worried face and he let himself in.

“You should go, Al.”

“I wanted to make sure you’re okay… that was quite a feat you accomplished tonight.” Charlie sniffed and shook her head.

“You shouldn’t be with me… I’m a monster for all the things I’ve done in that place…” She looked downcast and Alastor moved and tilted her face so she was forced to look at him.

“I can guarantee nothing you’ve done will surprise me or turn me away from you.” Charlie gave a weak smile but still looked down.

“I’ve been doing it for decades Al, for decades!” Alastor tilted his head.

“And the night you found out the truth, you did something about it, you were deceived and it wasn’t your fault… don’t ever blame yourself. Okay?” She looked back up at those magical red eyes and nodded.

“Thank you Al, you helped open my eyes.” Leaning forward he was careful to avoid all the wet viscera coating her and gently kissed her lips. 

“My darling doe, you saved me, it’s the least I can do.” Charlie nodded and smiled at him before taking off the rest of her clothes and getting in the shower, Alastor paused and left the bathroom so she could have a few minutes in peace. He moved to where the rest of the group was, they were in the middle of catching Angel up with everything that had happened in the prison.

***

There was a large bang as the lightbulb above him shattered and Vox face turned into a frown, but the hum and whine as everything else had kicked started and the facility had power again. He stepped back and moved away, he found Lucifer waiting for him in the main security wing standing still as a statue. 

“Good, now find out what happened.” Vox sat down and turned to the computer that had just finished booting up after the power outage, he extended his hand, and his fingernails seemed to loosen and worm their way towards the computer before melding with it and giving Vox access to the network. Like a third sight he saw through every security camera on site.

Impressive, there wasn’t a beating heart left… Lucifer had been thorough. Still, he pulled back against the history and spoke out as he saw the images and let them play on the display next to them for Lucifer's benefit too. 

“Charlie Killed two guards before gutting the power, looks like she opened every cell just before doing it too, she used the riot to get out.” Lucifer frowned.

“Creative, but not nearly good enough. Anything else?” Vox wished the cameras had audio, still he could work with this.

“She spoke to the security before starting, he left… think he might be in on it.” Lucifer grinned.

“Pull up his file and get some of my guards to pick him up.”

“... Husk, got his address… I’ve sent the order.” Lucifer smile turned into a snarlish thing.

“Good, maybe with a few screws in his knuckles he’ll sing for me. Anything else?” Vox started rewinding days of footage and absorbing it at a lighting pace as his electronic mind handled the input of various video feeds simultaneously. There was an anomaly, Charlie leaving with Alastor and then going nowhere. Easy, rather than look what cameras were on he looked at what cameras were off and went back weeks until he spotted that one camera was off the usual security network, the last change made to its security settings had Charlie’s ID all over it.

“Foolish girl…” Lucifer turned to Vox.

“What is it?” Vox brought the camera and assessed its footage.

“She took a camera off the network, but didn’t turn it off, so it was still recording… ah there it is…” A montage of several screens appeared on the wall of Charlie and Alastor kissing and the one where they made love upon the table. Lucifer face went from a snarl to a large grin.

“This could work… Can you edit the footage?”

“Of course my lord…” 

“Do it, make it graphic… and call Charlotte’s second in command, Vagatha I believe, She’s worked with my daughter for years and she’s blindly loyal to her. She’ll want to see your edit.” Vox static laugh sounded out as he began to modify footage. Lucifer was a devious one and he watched the work in progress and smiled.

He knew Alastor would want to get those manacles off, but the only one who could break them was Lucifer, which meant they were going to one of two places, and it certainly wasn’t going to be to a showdown with the lord of hell. So they would be heading _there_ , Lucifer would not risk going to his old domain, because of the risk it presents, no matter how small, he would not risk his freedom. He could send his overlords, but these fools that surrounded him proved ineffective against Alastor the first time, and now Charlotte would be with them, a blade carried by an enemy is easily parried. 

But a blade carried by a friend? Now that cut deepest of all. He should have ended Alastor that night, but there were too many witnesses, and it could cause upset to the balance and if he had to stamp out an unhappy populous then he would end up the king of a ruined city. Still, as long as Alastor was manacled, he wasn't a threat… hopefully hell would kill him itself, and failing that, his ace in the hole. 

***

Vaggie awoke with a start, her phone was ringing, she shuffled over and grabbed it and sat up, her bedsheet sliding past her chest and naked skin was kissed by the air.

“What is it?” The voice that was on the other side spoke frantically and Vaggie’s eye grew wide she threw the covers off her legs and quickly ended the call and started to get dressed as hurriedly as she could, an incident at the prison? She didn’t know for certain but her gut told her Alastor was behind this, she needed to head down there right now! Quickly grabbing all her things she sprinted out the door and rang Charlie’s private number. It went straight to voicemail.

“Charlie? Listen, don’t go to work this morning… There’s been an incident. Let me do damage control and then I’ll call you okay? DON’T COME TO WORK! I need to know you’re safe okay? I’ll get a team sent to you when we get things under control.” She ended the call and dashed straight for her car, the tyres squealed as she sped off, running every red light with her foot stamped hard to floor of the accelerator. 

***

Charlie had been given a hoodie and some loose fitting stretchy pants and was sat next to Alastor and holding his hand as they had all gathered around in Angel’s rather messy living room. Alastor’s thumb was gently rubbing up and down her hand and it was helping Charlie keep calm from the reality that she had just openly defied her father and was with a bunch of escaped convicts. Cherri spoke first.

“So now what? We just hide out forever?” Alastor let go of Charlie’s hand and cleared his throat. 

“This is probably a good time to explain exactly why I was sent into Charlie’s care in the first place… In my time in hell I spent a good amount of it researching into Lucifer, to know our _wonderful_ ruler and what not. As it turns out he has a lot of hidden caches of information doted around, locked down tight to keep prying eyes away. With my affinity with shadow, I managed to get a sneak in and found something, very old.” Charlie was looking intently up at him.

“What was it?” Alastor shook his head.

“I never got to open it, it was a trap, Lucifer had known about my prying for a while and set his dogs on me, I had my shadow hide the thing somewhere in the spirit realm before I turned my attention to those that would attack me, when Lucifer shackled me with these, I lost contact with my shadow, I need these manacles off so I can get whatever it hid it. Clearly Lucifer had simply intended for me to be muted and then reduced to nothing but a slobbering husk within the first day. I am so very glad my dear, you decided against it.” Charlie gave him a soft smile and patted his leg. Angel cocked his head to one side.

“Ya know, over the last few weeks the news wouldn’t shut up about ya, tellin’ everyone about how you were some kind of insane lunatic, who ate demons and stole souls… That news bitch Katie kept on going on and on about, it was a fuckin’ bore.” Alastor shrugged.

“The soul bit is absurd, the other part… well we all have our weaknesses, don’t we? I think they were making up stories to make it that if I ever did escape it was likely I would be unable to find refuge before being called in.” Cherri grinned slightly.

“Yeah, like how you could make people do all kinds of nasty degrading shit with just a look and a whisper…” Angel looked confused.

“I didn’t hear about that one?” Cherri paused then laughed.

“Sorry… That one was a dream… fuckin’ good dream.” She whispered the last part out, and Charlie looked very confused at her and then up at Alastor, it looked like she wanted to say something, but changed her mind. Alastor turned to Charlie

“My dear, do you know how I might get these manacles off? I have a feeling that item is going to be incredibly important to our continued survival.” Charlie looked down at the chained manacles and shook her head and looked sadly at him.

“I can't, the only person who could take those off is my dad.” Alastor let out a sigh.

“Then we haven’t much of a hope… what a horrible turn of events.” Charlie paused.

“Well… there is something but It’s going to be bad…” Arackniss had his arms folded.

“Worse than going up to old Lucifer and asking him nicely to take those manacles off?” Charlie let out a laugh and shook her head. 

“My dad’s vain… like really, really vain and he used to tell me endless stories about how he created this city, when I was younger. We might not get him to do it, but I’m pretty sure we could get his old body to do it…” 

“You’re gunna have to back that up and explain what the hell you mean?” Arackniss spoke out but all of them looked at Charlie, she blinked and took in a deep breath.

“You all heard the phase. Nine circles of hell right?” They all nodded and Charlie continued.

“Well, they’re real, but underneath our feet… and really far down, well most of them, Limbo’s an odd one. Dad built the city like a plug over all of them, when a soul arrives rather than being judged and sent off to the correct place for eternal torment, they just land here in the city. I think dad was tired of just torturing people and wanted to rule like a king… that’s when the population problem started and when we needed to have exterminations… because my dad refused to do it the old way.” Angel snapped his fingers.

“Ya know that makes a lot of sense, when I first died I thought ‘fuck’ I'm gunna get tortured forever, but this place? Just a big fucking city…” Charlie nodded.

“It’s how it used to be before dad got bored, anyway his old body’s still trapped down, there he kind of made himself a new body and broke free of his old one. It also means I don’t think he would risk coming after us himself if he figures it out, if he thinks we could trap him in his old body somehow… I mean I don’t know how we would? But the thought might keep him away.” Alastor digested the information and the glimmer of hope had reignited in his chest.

“So we need to find the husk of his body and use it to break these manacles?” Charlie nodded.

“Yeah… but I mean the circles were built to torture souls… most of them should be empty now, but… it's going to be really dangerous if we get caught in there.” 

“But it’s better than sitting here waiting to get caught.” He smiled at Charlie “Thank you my dear, When I have freed myself I will come back to you.” She looked suddenly shocked.

“I’m coming with you Al, I’ll know that place better than anyone else… I wouldn’t dream of letting you go alone.” Cherri sat forward in her space.

“I’m cumin’ too, I also think I should tag along.” Alastor’s face fell.

“Why?” He pleaded, Cherri folder her arms and stared right at him.

“Easy Al, you were nice to me when you didn’t oughta be, So I feel like I owe ya, plus what the fuck am I gunna do? Hide in the fucking sewers until I get caught?” Arackniss sighed and nodded.

“She’s right you know, if we can buy our freedom with whatever that thing is, I think it's our best shot, Sorry Angie but It’ll be safer if we leave you the fuck alone.” 

“Oh you can fuck right off ‘Niss, I let Cherri leave once and I thought I’d never see her again! Fuck if I’m gunna let that happen again. Plus Val’s an ass and he can choke on a bag of cocks for all I care.” Alastor leant back in his place.

“What an adventure this will turn out to be, I wonder how many of us will actually make it down there…” He didn’t need Charlie to confirm it, this was going to be horribly dangerous, however he laughed to himself at the thought that no matter what, Cherri would probably survive as long as he did just so she could tease him constantly. Charlie spoke up.

“There’s some people we need to see, I want to ask if they’ll come too, only because I think they’re in real danger of my father and they’ve done nothing wrong. My dad doesn’t like to lose at anything and I think he’s going to do horrible things to make sure that he catches us.” Alastor gripped her hand tightly.

“We’ll rest up first, I'm sure your exhausted after all you’ve done today. Then we’ll try our best to disguise ourselves and go in the morning. Angel was it? Since you’re not a wanted man could I give you a list of things to buy… I’m going to need a wind-up radio for starters…”

“Uh, sure… I was supposed to be at the studio in the mornin’ but fuck it, let’s do this shit!” 

It was decided then, descend into the ancient lower reaches of hell to hopefully get something that they could use to free themselves from the death marks that hung over each of their heads. 

***

Vaggie burst into the office and immediately went wide-eyed and bowed. Lucifer was facing away from her and staring at the monitors mounted on the wall. Vox was sat in the chair and was loading up various displays and information on the computer.

“My Lord Lucifer, I am so sorry to interrupt you!” Lucifer’s eyes narrowed and his small smile was sleek.

“Ah yes Vagatha, you were my daughters second correct?” Vaggie stood straight as a flag pole as she nodded.

“Yes my Lord, I’ve been trying to contact Princess Charlotte, I think her phone might be off, I’ve sent a patrol to collect her so we can get organized and capture any escapees quickly and efficiently” Lucifer turned and looked her in the eye.

“I’m afraid it’s move complicated than that… look.” Lucifer took a step back as he pointed at the monitor on the wall. Vaggie stepped in and looked up at the security feed. It was time stamped last night, Vox hit play and Vaggie’s mouth fell open and she covered it with her hands. She forgot herself for a moment.

“Charlie… what are you doing?” The display showed Charlie, by herself taking Alastor from the cells and towards the interrogation chambers.

“There wasn’t anything planned yesterday… I check the calendar myself… where are the guards?” Lucifer spoke out quietly behind her and whilst she wasn’t looking at him, his smile had become wickedly sharp.

“It seems that Alastor manipulated her and deceived… I don’t understand why he was never put into solitary as I suggested.” Vaggie shook her head.

“I don’t know my Lord. I- oh no…” There was a blur as Alastor seemingly moved too quickly for the camera as they entered the room and had thrown Charlie onto the table. Vaggie shook in place as she watched the visceral rape of the princess at the hands of the monster who had tricked her. Charlie was clearly screaming for him to stop as she clawed and scratched at him, but he seemed to have completely overpowered her, there was blood and she looked terrified. Blinding fury was spreading and Vaggie couldn't control her breathing, she wanted to tear him apart with her bare hands for what he had done to Charlie, to smash every one his smug teeth, snap his bones, pull out his fucking spine, it made her sick, physically sick as she saw him defile Charlie with each thrust of his hips. 

“ I think we’ve seen enough…” Lucifer spoke to Vox he nodded and paused. 

“It goes on for quite some time, before he finally leaves with her.” Vaggie turned to face Lucifer whose face appeared sombre and serious. 

“M-My Lord, I will hunt him down personally… for what he has done to the princess and I will break every bone in his body and deliver him to you. Just give me the word and I’ll hunt this filth down.” Lucifer looked her over.

“You’re very dedicated to my daughter aren’t you?” Vaggie nodded.

“I just want to bring her home safely, away from that monster.” 

“Very well, I know where they will have gone, I would go myself but I am needed to attend business in the city.” 

“Send me, I’ll do it! I’ll fucking END HIM.”

“Very well, and I will give you a gift, and a command… Save my daughter, and those that travel with her especially the monster Alastor, they must not return…” Vaggie looked confused for a moment until Lucifer appeared to be pulling something straight out of thin air. 

It was a sword… it was Lucifer’s sword, a piece of metal that had a silvery white shimmer to it with a blue edge, forged in heaven but tarred with hell, it looked like a masterwork, absolutely flawless a twisted pommel and hand guard, there seemed to be black tar sliding up and down the blade as if alive, tainting the otherwise pristine finish. He looked at it for a moment and then presented it to Vaggie who took two hands up to carefully take it, it felt both light and extremely heavy at the same time, as if it was easy to wield but the force that swung behind it was indescribable.

“This is my weapon, I bequeath it to you, so you may complete the task set, It is forged of a material more ancient than mankind… if you strike down Alastor, he will not return.” 

“I’ll kill him, and everyone else who has hurt the princess.” 

“I know you will, she has gone to my old domain, it will be treacherous… prepare yourself, get supplies and when you are ready return to me and I will take you to the entrance…” Vaggie went to sheathe the weapon by her side but it simply vanished, but she could still feel its presence with her and she believed that if she wanted to, she could draw it out of the air too.

“Of course my Lord, I will return as soon as I can.” She bowed and left in a hurry. As soon as she was gone Lucifer’s grin spread again and Vox turned to him.

“Isn’t there a risk that she will learn too much going down there? What if Alastor gets into her head too.”

“I don’t think so, I can smell the wrath in her, she is blinded by hate… as for the things she might learn. My sword only has one master… once she has killed Alastor and put an end to the threat he causes me, it will simply kill her.” Vox smile flickered on his face as he started to laugh.

“Brilliant as always, Lord… you are truly the master of deceit.” 

Lucifer face grew darker as his thoughts reached out to the fleeing radio demon and his rebel daughter.

There must be no loose ends. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for reading this story, leaving a comment or dropping some kudos :D
> 
> I'm loving the AU and am unbelievably excited for the next part in the series that will most likely be up within 24 hours  
> I mentioned somewhere that I am god awful at separating out a story into proper arcs so I am trying my best to do it this time.
> 
> What I can say, the 2nd part is going to longer than this and a delight to write about, It's going to get some good ol' fashioned divine comedy in here which is absolutely my inspiration for what is about to happen.
> 
> I hope if you enjoyed this story, you'll check out the next part. A brief summary of what to expect.
> 
> Charlie/Cherri/Alastor/Niffty/Husk/Angel/Arackniss Going down the circles of hell and enduring what tortures await them, some circles are going to have special problems for certain members of the gang.
> 
> And Vaggie, relentlessly pursuing them with no one but herself to rely on as she pushes on to find and 'save' Charlie, unaware of the betrayal that hangs by her side. 
> 
> Will they get to the Ninth circle? Will Alastor finally find out what the item he stole was, that caused all this trouble?
> 
> Who Will die...?
> 
> *EDIT* Part 2 is now LIVE WOOOOOOOOOOOO


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